Naruto Shippuden Alternate Ending
by coltfan817
Summary: When I watched the anime, I saw so much potential, but was let down by the ending. I felt victory came way too easily. Therefore, I am rewriting it at a much greater cost to the protagonists. Be warned, this will be darker and will spoil the anime for any who haven't watched it yet. You may or may not like my changes, but it will be different. Enjoy!
1. Prologue and Chapter 1

Prologue

 _NOTES: The story begins around the time of Pein's invasion of Konoha. For sake of this story, all other details have been kept the same up to this point with one exception: Kakashi has not been killed (he has been incapacitated though). Shizunet is dead, and Lady Tsunade is badly injured. I reserve the right to change anything beyond this point…_

"The world will know pain. And through fear of that pain they will find peace." Pein turned his gaze downward at Naruto. "It will be an end to war as we know it."

"But that kind of peace is just a lie!" Naruto yelled.

"It is the only way peace can be achieved. Otherwise, someone will rise up to claim power and the cycle will continue to repeat itself." Pein pulled out the final chakra rid and prepared to completely incapacitate Naruto. "And it all begins with the tailed beasts!"

"Stop!" A distant voice grew closer and louder as both Pein and Naruto turned to the sound of footsteps. "Stop this now!" the voice cried persistently. Hinata through herself between Pein and Naruto, staring into Pein's eyes with the sort of fierceness no one would expect from such a gentile girl.

"I suppose you think you can stop me," Pein taunted. "No matter, the world will know our pain!"

Hinata began to remove the chakra rods, determined to free Naruto. Pein used the almighty push and through her against a wall of rocks. Still, she got back up. Pein pushed her again, and still she got back up.

"Why would someone so weak try to resist?" Pein wondered. Hinata paused and looked up from her crawl back toward Naruto. "It's because I love you Naruto. I never give up, because it's my ninja way."

Almost seeming touched, Pein picked her up with his jutsu and flung her higher into the air than Naruto could see. Then she began to fall at a great speed. "HINATA!" Naruto called. Hinata fell to the ground with a bang and her body went limp…

Itachi awoke to complete white space. Nothing existed around him, but empty space. The world was gone. So Sasuke had finally done it. He had gotten his ultimate revenge and killed his hated big brother. If only had known the truth, but Itachi knew he could never know or his vengeance on the Leaf would lead him down a twisted path that no one knew the destination.

"He knows," cam a voice from the void. Itachi turned to look for its source but saw nothing. Suddenly, he heard footsteps, and a figure of a man approached him. "He knows, the man calling himself Madara Uchiha already told him."

"Who are you?" Itachi called out to the man. As the man approached, his blond hair became visible. "Naruto?"

The man shook his head. "You're close though. My name is Minato, I am the fourth hokage, and Naruto's father."

Itachi's eyes widened. Never before had he expected to come face to face with the fourth, especially after what his clan had plotted to do. "I thought I was dead?"

"You are," Minato reassured him. "But your task is not yet complete. You have done so much Itachi. All for the sake of the village, and protecting your little brother. But now you must save him from himself."

"What do you mean?"

"As I'm sure you're aware, the knowledge revealed to Sasuke has made him furious with the Leaf elders, and he has become dangerous. If left as he is, Madara will destroy the village, along with everybody in it."

Itachi fell to his knees. Sasuke. I have failed you. I tried to protect you, but I failed. Itachi turned to Minato. "So what will you do? Are you going to send me back?"

"No," Minato replied. "But you will be revived. And when that time comes, you must speak with Sasuke, and set him straight. He will listen."

A chance to help his brother. A chance to save the village! Itachi was flooded with hope. "I will do as you ask. In the meantime I will wait here until I'm needed."

"No," Minato responded once again. "There is another task for you. Someone else is in need of your help. Your partner has joined with Madara, remaining with the Akatsuki in order to make their nightmare a reality. You must go to him and speak with him."

"I understand." And with that Minato vanished, and the void was once again empty…

Chapter 1- Invasion of Pein

 _NOTES: Not all parts of the story will be mentioned here. Since you should have already watched the anime, only the important parts and changes will be mentioned. There will be some significant changes though!_ _J_

Naruto lost it. The nine-tails consumed his body as three tails emerged from him. "Do you hate me now?!" Pein shouted. The fox roared and charged at him. Pein's evasion proved costly to the village, as even more building crumbled into rubble. Pein shoved a Chakra rod through Hinata's body, drawing more rage from the fox and the fourth tail to emerge. With Yamoto unable to help, the rage of the fox was uncontainable and continued to grow.

"See, you are full of rage, just like the rest of your world! The destruction you have caused is felt across the world as the strong prey on the weak." The fox continued to rampage and destroy the entire area. Pein assembled the other chakra bodies, and led the fox away from the village, and the assistance of anyone there. Not that much help would come though, with nearly the entire village wounded.

Pein led the fox away until they reached a small coastal grove. As the fox's rampage continued, all but Yahiko's chakra body were destroyed, and eight tails emerged from the fox. "You are an opponent worthy of a God," Pein shouted. He used his jutsu to pull together an enormous amount of earth, seemingly nearly as large as the moon. "Almighty push!" With those two words, the earth crumbled on the fox, and it let out a loud roar.

"Now I can begin sealing!" Pein ran over to the rubble and began to cast a jutsu. However, before he could even finish his signs, the earth shot up, and the fox emerged with a roar. The ninth tail began to emerge, which would mean freedom for the fox spirit. However, it only emerged halfway before the fox stopped dead in its tracks. Minato had reached out to his son, and prevented the takeover. The fox spirit broke apart, and Naruto emerged from the body of energy.

"He comes to face me alone once again," Pein laughed. "How noble. Tell me, how well did that work for you the last time?"

"You were right," Naruto said. "I can't depend on the fox's destructive force if I want to achieve peace. I will stop you, and you will pay for all the lives you have taken! But not at the expense of others. Would you continue to fight, knowing everything you have taken from people?"

"I have taken nothing when compared to the cruelty the world has brought upon its people," Pein argued. "You're just like the others, you will never understand true pain."

Naruto entered sage mode. "I guess I have no choice but to fight you." Naruto charged Pein, who pushed him back with his jutsu. Pein managed to get a chakra rod in Naruto's right arm, but he broke the rod. The shattered rod lay between the two. Pein laughed. "You're quite persistent aren't you? No matter, I will outlast you. You're skills aren't enough to beat me."

Naruto recognized the truth in Pein's statement. Suddenly, he realized that the chakra rods Pein had been using to control people's movements had to be broadcast from a source. Naruto shoved the chakra rod in his body and traced the signal. He was led back to a tree, where he saw a glimpse of the controller. "So that's where you're hiding!" Naruto shouted. However, as he tried to escape the battlefield, Pein struck him with a chakra rod, rendering him incapacitated.

"We will meet one day Naruto, but not today," Pein said. "If this battle continued, you may well beat me, and cannot let that happen. There is a task for me that I must complete. My name is Nagato. I am a former student of Jiraya, and standing leader of the Akatsuki. We will accomplish our goals, despite your wishes. Come seek me out when you have regained the strength to defeat me. Until that day, goodbye." With that, Pein fled from the battlefield as Naruto watched him, helpless to try and pursue him…

Several hours later, Naruto was woken up by Sakura. "Naruto are you okay?" Sakura sounded worried. Had he fallen unconscious? As Naruto became more conscious of his surrounding he realized he must have as he was now back in the village. "Naruto, you saved us!"

"What are you talking about Sakura? I failed. Pein got away."

Sakura shook her head. He would have killed all of us, probably wiped out our entire village. You drove him off. And now there's only one of them!" Sakura embraced Naruto. "They're calling you the hero that saved our village!"

Naruto didn't understand, but when Sakura brought him to the center of the village, sure enough they were all there. Everybody in the village was cheering and shouting his name. "You're their hero Naruto," Sakura said. "You saved all of us and they love you for it."

Naruto was greeted by everybody. They all embraced him, shook his hand, and smiled at him. The boy who had been an outcast for all his life had become loved by everyone.

Unfortunately, the heartfelt moment was short lived. Shikamaru approached Naruto, and his expression seemed much more serious than everyone else. "Naruto, Sakura, they want to see you in the hospital. It sounded important." They both headed there right away.

When they entered the hospital, a medical ninja approached them. "I want to tell you both that Kakashi is expected to make a full recovery." Both Naruto and Sakura looked relieved upon hearing this. "However, you're needed in the high security tent. You'll have to see for yourself."

Both ninjas entered the tent, and were shocked to see their hokage laying in the hospital bed. "Lady fifth!" They ran to her side and peered down at her. Tsunade was conscious, but appeared to be in a great deal of pain. She looked up at them, but her stare was so weak it seemed like she might drift out of consciousness at any second.

"Naruto, Sakura, I was hoping I'd see you," Tsunade said with a weak smile. "You've both grown so much and made so much progress." Tsunade paused and looked up at the roof of the tent. "I'm proud of both of you, especially you, Sakura. I see so much of myself in you." Tsunade grabbed a piece of paper with a list of items written on it. It appeared to be a will. "When I'm gone, I want both of you to your best to keep growing as ninjas. I know what you both are capable of. You will be some of the best the Leaf has ever had."

Sakura began to cry as she sensed what this conversation meant. "Don't cry for me," Tsunade said. "I'm going somewhere you can't follow me. I know you both will leave a legacy even greater than mine. And Naruto…" She paused as Naruto looked at her. "Try not to do anything too foolish." With that Tsunade smiled and fell unconscious as her final hours began to tick away. Tears fell off Naruto's cheeks as he looked down on Tsunade.

Sakura, still cryng (she couldn't help it) turned to the medical ninja. "What's on the will?" She choked.

The ninja looked it over. "There's several items on here, including the most important…"

"What would that be?" Naruto asked.

"Kakashi Htake will succeed Lady Tsunade as sixth hokage of the Hidden Leaf."

…


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2- Danzo Strikes Back

 _NOTES: Due to the broad coverage of this chapter, it will be divided into parts like the prologue. I will skip the entirety of the filler (It's so pointless anyway…). This may at times seem like the same story, but keep in mind their are changes, I just didn't want to change everything about the story. Please excuse my poor interpretation of B, I am not Kishomoto and am therefore not as skilled at writing a good funky character like B._

Kisame hated being summoned to meetings. He couldn't help but think of all the other things he could be doing with his time. He could've been a free man, but had opted otherwise. It'll be more interesting this way, he thought. Madara's revelation had inspired him to see how this plays out. Who knows what had happened now, with Pein invading the leaf there's no telling how things were left.

At the meeting, Kisame was surprised to see Pein and Konan had returned. They had fled and projected themselves from some unknown safe place. "It's time to discuss some important matter," Madara opened. "With the invasion of the leaf, there will no doubt be some sort of retaliation by Konoha on the Akatsuki. With Ithachi's death and Naruto's extermination of five of Pein's vessels, we are few in number now."

"I'll say, five Akatsuki couldn't take on the Leaf in the open, let alone the rest of Konoha," replied Kisame. He had become sceptical the Akatsuki still had the man power to execute Madara's plan. After all, there were still two tailed beasts to capture.

"As long as we have Zetsu, we can build an army," Madara assured them. "But that isn't the pressing matter. With Tsunade now on her deathbed, the leaders of Konoha will undoubtedly meet. We must respond now, while we have the chance."

"And what exactly is it that you propose we do?" Pein asked. "The Leaf is in disarray with the death of their leader. Perhaps now would be the opportune time to retry to capture the nine tails?"

"No, not yet," Madara answered. "I have been assured the meeting will take place. Regardless of whoever takes over leadership of the Leaf, our plan is the same. I must go myself to this meeting, and declare war."

"Can we fight a war now?" Konan asked. "Perhaps we should wait until we capture more vessels, so that Pein can be at full strength."

"I have already enlisted some help," Madara assured as he turned to an opening doorway. A man walked through and approached the projections, with a dark hood covering his face. When he reached the group, he pulled his hood up to reveal the face of Kabuto. Something was off about him though. His face was pale, and his eyes looked like those of a snake.

"Kabuto?" Kisame asked. "Hmm, I was wondering where you had gone after Orochimaru's death. No one seemed to have heard from you."

"Oh I am alive and well, I assure you," answered Kabuto. "Better even. Since absorbing Orochimaru's power I have felt much stronger."

"You said you had something for us, something that would help our war efforts," Madra urged. "What is it?"

Kabuto pulled out a tiny case, and cast some sort of jutsu to make it grow to the size of a wardrobe. "Thank to my new fused powers, I have learned a new technique. With this technique I can reanimate the dead." He opened the case. Inside the case were four bodies. "May I present to you Deidera the detonator, Kaukuzu the man of five styles, Sasori the puppet master, and Itachi Uchiha himself! Perhaps they look familiar to you?"

"What game is he playing?" black Zetsu asked. "Reviving the dead, what a joke?"

"Perhaps a demo is in order?" With a few signs, Kabuto made Deidara's corpse begin to move. Zombie Deidera proceeded to cast an explosion bomb jutsu and blow up the entire cavern. Amazing, both Kabuto, Deidera, and the other corpses emerged unharmed.

"Been awhile Tobi my man. Still screwing up missions as per usual?" Deidera laughed at his former partner, unaware of who he really is.

"They are more or less their reanimated selves," bragged Kabuto. "I can make them fight for me, but they fight on their own, and have their own conscious thoughts.

"Interesting," white Zetsu responded. "There's your answer for finding more manpower I suppose."

"With this reanimated firepower, and Sasuke's team on our side, we can doubtlessly win this war," Madara agreed without as much as acknowledging Deidara's comment. "Kabuto will now be the newest member of the Akatsuki. As for everything else, I must speak with Naruto. He shall know the truth. Pein, you will go to the meeting of the elders to declare war. You will continue to act as lead of the Akatsuki so that the elders do not realize who our true leader is."

"Understood," responded Pein. Even without full strength, simply going to declare war was not beyond his means.

"Take Konan with you. Sasuke will likely show up as well. He will get a good shot at revenge if he attends the meeting. I am told that Danzo will be in attendance, and I'm sure Sasuke would love to see him dead."

"Why would Danzo do such a thing?" Kisame asked. "Don't tell me they actually made him the new Hokage."

"No, that doesn't appear to be the case," white Zetsu relied. "Based on what I've seen spying on the leaf, it appears Danzo plans to takeover tyrannically." "Don't jump to such conclusions," black Zetsu intervened. "We need to keep spying on them to find out for sure. Danzo's rule will turn the Leaf Village to hell on earth."

"So it would seem." Madara glanced around the room. "We are still in need of the tailed beasts. For now the nine tails will be out of reach. I do not plan to fight with Naruto." Madara turned to Kisame. "I am told the eight tales will be training in the area though. Kisame, go face the eight tales and do what you can. Zetsu, back him up. We can't afford to lose anyone right now. If you can't win, use your escape technique Kisame."

"Very well," Kisame replied. He licked his teeth. "I'm sure Samehada would like to try some eight tales chakra." The sword responded with a creepy affirmative groaning sound.

"Best of luck, all of you," Madara said. "If all goes as planned we will be one step closer to our ultimate goal. Dismissed."

Lady Tsunade passed away less than two weeks after Pein's assault. While her last two weeks were very painful, it did allow the elders to make a smooth transition and appoint replacement leaders. It also had the hidden benefit of giving Kakashi time to recover.

However, this time had also given someone else time to plan a coup. Lord Danzo, leader of the Anbu Black Ops, was less than thrilled with the village's decision for a replacement Hokage. No, Danzo had been planning this even before Tsunade's death. Her death just left the perfect opening for him to take advantage of. He had a secret weapon that he had long kept secret, why not use it?

"Lord Danzo you summoned me sir."

Danzo turned to face the voice. "Ah, Sai, thank you for coming. I take it the mission was a failure?"

"Yes, we were unable to capture Itachi Uchiha'" Sai reported. "In addition, Pein has levelled the entire village, and killed several key Leaf elders, including Lady Tsunade. I am told Kakashi Hitake is to replace him."

"And you view this as a good choice?"

"Kakashi is a good leader," Sai admitted. "He's helped turned Naruto into a hero the people of the Leaf can follow."

Danzo narrowed his eyes. "You truly feel inspired by the jinjuriki don't you? What happened to you Sai? Someone seems to have taught you to feel, and act just like the other corrupt ninja in this village. No matter, the village will be well rid of both of them!"

"This can't be the way!" Sai argued. "Kakashi and Naruto may be the only two capable of finally bringing peace to the villages. Why would you do away with them?"

"Enough Sai!" Snapped Danzo. "You forget your place. You are an agent of the Black Ops, not a ninja of the Leaf. If they knew your true mission, they would cast you aside just like Sasuke did to them. Remember how the Leaf rewards its loyal ninjas! Or did you forget?"

"I haven't," Sai admitted quietly.

"Good." Danzo relaxed and returned to his normal composure. He sat back in his chair and crossed his hands, resting his chin on them. "Everything is ready, it is time to set it in motion. Go now, I will call for you shortly."

"As you wish, Lord Danzo." And with that Sai walked out with that same smile on his face, although now with a hint of conflict.

Danzo needed to convince the elders. If they believed that he would better serve the Leaf as Hokage, then his position would be secure. During his visit, he blackmailed them. Should they not claim him as their Hokage over Kakashi, he would reveal the truth about the extermination of the Uchiha clan. With no other options, they swore their loyalty to Danzo, and announced it to the village. With Kakashi still recovering from severe wounds from his encounter with Pein, the Leaf was forced to accept Danzo as their leader for the time being.

"Damn it!" Yelled Naruto as he punched the wall. No one was more upset witht this decision than Naruto. Sakura, as well as many of the other shinobi, had feared for Naruto's safety. However, due to his position of importance as the nine tails jinjuriki, the elders had been able to successfully insist that he not be harmed, for the time being.

Several days passed, and Kakashi eventually recovered. He was forced to lay low while Danzo set things in motion, or else risk being perceived as a threat. The repairs on the village had finally begun, and Danzo vowed vengeance against the Akatsuki. Word was sent out to all the other villages about the invasion of Pein and the murder of the Leaf's Hokage. When Pakkun returned with their responses, the consensus was unanimous. The villages would convene at the five kage summit in two weeks, to discuss the rising threat of the Akatsuki.

Danzo had surprisingly agreed to this meeting. He wanted to prove himself as a viable leader to the other villages, as well as convince them to back him. Furthermore, he wanted their support in eliminating the Akatsuki, as well as Sasuke, so that he keep himself secure. Without Sasuke, he could rule the Leaf without anyone to oppose him, except perhaps Kakashi and Naruto, but he would deal with them later. The more immediate threat was Sasuke.

Unexpectedly, it was after this meeting was set, the Kakashi finally contacted Naruto and Yamoto. They were to meet him in an abandoned shack, just outside the village. Once there, he revealed what he had been up to. "I think I have been able to locate some Intel on the Akatsuki's plans. We must move quickly though."

"What about the meeting of the kage?" Yamoto asked.

"Naruto's presence may be requested, but you can be sure they won't want me there," Kakashi answered. "We can go before the meeting and try to meet them there. Besides, this is much more important right now." Kakashi then leaned in toward Naruto. "Also, I think Sasuke will try to make a visit there, we must keep Naruto away from there if at all possible." Yamoto nodded in consent.

"Alright! Where are we off to then?" Naruto said as he cracked his knuckles, eager as ever. "The sooner we stop the Akatsuki, the sooner we can save Sasuke!"

"It's very close to the meeting point," Kakashi responed. I'll brief you both on the coordinates before we leave." And with that, Naruto rushed off, more than ready for another mission. Kakash turned to Yamoto. "Have you heard anything?"

"My Intel tells me that Sasuke has been seen wearing an Akatsuki cloak. He also reportedly attacked the eight tails jinjuriki and killed several cloud shinobi." Kakashi sighed, looking distressed. "He is now a danger to the Leaf and must be taken care of. By any means necessary."

Kakashi nodded. "Let's see what we can learn first. Perhaps clues about the Akatsuki's goals will help lead us to him."

Word came in that the Raikage would in fact be in attendance of the meeting (this had been in doubt as he had no real passion for the Leaf Village). As it turned out, Kumogakure had been raided by the Akatsuki as well, in hopes of restraining the eight tails jinjuriki Killer Bee. No word yet had come out about who orchestrated the attack, but Danzoknew the truth. Sasuke Uchiha was now a member of the Akatsuki. The other village leader sensed something was amiss as well, and the meeting was hastened. On the following morning, Danzo left for the summit.

Kakashi had likewise arranged for Naruto and Yamoto to meet him at the village gates that morning. "We can't waste any more time, it's time we left." And with that they were off to try to learn the secrets of the Akatsuki.

"Where the hell is B?" Lord Raikage demanded. He was frustrated beyond belief. His Intel had told him that B had given the Akatsuki a clone instead of his true self, and escaped into the wilderness. Nothing had been heard of his whereabouts, it seemed he culd be anywhere.

"My best guess is that he sought out Sabu the music master sir. He had mentioned it previously."

A slammed his fist on the table in frustration. This was just like B to disappear in times of crisis like it was no big deal. If the Akatsuki were after the Jinjuriki, they needed to be kept safe. "It'll have to wait," A sighed. "We're needed at the summit." He turned to his assistant. "Pack your things, we leave now."

…

"Yo check out my new moves! They only work if you got the groove! WEEE!" Killer Bee elegantly landed after performing incredible moves with a brilliant display of swirling chakra surrounded his body. It almost appeared like he had turned Taijustsu into a form of dance.

"You've learned absolutely nothing! You've got to use a rhythmic beat, like this!" Sabu proceeded to demo the sound while engaging in moves incredibly similar to break dancing. B noted to make sure he incorporated break dancing into his routine from now on. "Aren't you worried Lord Raikage will find you here?"

"Not in the slightest." B replied confidently. "No way is brother A going to find us." B paused and glanced at their surroundings. They were surrounded by pine trees painted with snow. The snow at their feet was high enough to hide under. "He's at that meeting at the five kage summit. No way he would think to look this close by. Besides, that meeting be starting soon!"

"Which makes you all the easier to deal with I suppose!" came a voice. The falling snow made it hard to distinguish the figure, but the man seemed tall and unfamiliar to B. He did have a dark aura about him that concerned B though.

"Your chakra is off the charts! Who are you? Show yourself and be amazed by my new musical abilities."

"Well if that's how we're judging skill, I don't think I should be too worried about you." Kisame emerged from the blinding blizzard carrying his sword Samehada. Determined to supplant B, he began a sword dance that was impressive to behold. His chakra seemed to periodically fuse and break apart from Samehada, creating an incredible pattern.

"Sir I solute you on your moves," Sabu acknowledged, "but it is I who will remain the king of song and dance!" Sabu began to sing some chant, then lifted himself into a handstand and did an amazing break dance move.

The dance war between Sabu and Kisame lasted for quite awile, while B stood by and took notes. So song and dance go together it seems, he observed. Fascinating. He had always followed his song with dance, never thinking to do both at the same time.

Finally, Kisame had had enough (he was losing anyway!). "Fine, you win," he said. "I have one last move for you to see though. " And with that he threw a chakra blade at Sabu's giant raccoon, nailing it right between the eyes, and killing it."

"You bastard!" Sabu gasped while choking on tears. "I'll kill you for this!" Sabu charged at Kisame, but was easily tossed aside and rendered unconscious. Kisame then turned to B. "You must be the eight tales then. I've heard so much to about you I feel it's time we met!"

B wanted to test Kisame's abilities as he had no idea what kind of level his opponent was on. B through several shuriken at Kisame, who simply flexed his chest muscles and let them bounce right off of him. What kind of monster was this man? "I see you are a worthy opponent. Very well, I won't go easy on you."

"Who ever asked you to?" Kisame gave B a dark smile. "Your chakra smells so nice, I'm sure it will make a pleasant snack for Samehada."

So he has he legendary sword Samehada, huh? B looked over at Kisame and began to approach him to fight him. "Who are you?"

"Kisame Hoshigaki," his opponent answered. "Nice to meet you after the fact."

Some time passed as their battle commenced. Kisame had merged with Samehada and tried to drown B. Nothing was working. It appeared the eight tales was a worth opponent indeed. B was nearing the end though, his eight tales chakra had begun to wear down. It appeared Kisame was near victory. However, Zetsu appeared to communicate with Kisame.

"It seems Pein has finished delivering the message. The meeting of the five kage is over. Lord Raikage has found our position and will bring reinforcements in a matter of minutes."

"I must follow Madara's orders then," Kisame sighed. Reluctantly, he swapped places with a white Zetsu clone that took over the battle for him. Kisame hid himself inside Samehada, but he was more exhausted from the battle than he thought. The jutsu took the last bit of his chakra, and with that Kisame lost consciousness…

When he awoke, Kisame was surrounded by an endless void. Or was it a void? And more importantly was he awake? The void changed in appearance to some sort of battlefield. Kisame realized suddenly that it was the same Itachi and Sasuke had fought on at Uchiha Manor. Why was he here? Was he supposed to fight someone? Was he dead?

"No you're not dead." The sound of that vice made Kisame's eyes widen. He turned and could not believe his eyes. "I assume we're here because you will not understand what I am about to say. No matter it can't be helped."

Kisame got up of the ground and turned to face his foe. Standing before him was the one and only Itachi Uchiha.

…


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3- Itachi vs. Kisame

 _NOTES: Sorry for the wait on this one, there are a lot of parts to this chapter. Since it wouldn't be Naruto without some epic fights, there will be one (but not until after a few more important things). I will use ellipses to separate the parts of this chapter as it will be mostly all over the place. Thinking of tying in some romance soon too, so look for that. Tried to stay as in character as I could, although keep in mind I'm not Kishomoto, I have my own perception of things._

Naruto awoke in the middle of the night from a fierce nightmare. He had gone in to his nine-tails form and completely levelled his village. Screaming rang in his ears as he was forced to watch while his uncontrollable body wreaked havoc. I have to learn to control myself. If I don't, I could really hurt someone.

A cold breeze blew through that kept him from falling asleep. He had travelled with Yamoto and Kakashi sensei to the Land of Iron in hopes of finding clues about the Akatsuki. They had crashed for the night in a remote cabin that barely held in any heat. The Land of Iron was cold and snowy in winter, and it was painful to be so exposed, even with a blanket and a fire not too far away. At least the peacefulness made up for it. The majestic scenery outside was completely undisturbed, with the only sounds the crackling of the fire, and the distant sound of Kakashi's faint snoring upstairs. Everything was so still that it seemed as though time had stopped.

Suddenly the sound of a cracking twig came from outside. When Naruto turned toward the window, he jumped at the sight of an Akatsuki member sitting on a railing next to him. Naruto recognized the Akatsuki from a previous fight not too long ago when the team had tried to capture Itachi. The man looked down at him through his mask as if studying him.

"Naruto Uzumaki. So you're the nine-tails jinjuriki who went head to head with Pein hmm?"

"You!" Naruto began to prepare his rasengan as he looked at the man angrily. "I remember you. You stopped me from saving Sasuke!" Naruto threw himself at him and tried to strike him with his rasengan, but the attack once again passed right through him.

The man teleported over to a nearby window. "What makes you think Sasuke wants to be saved? Tell me, what would you do if Sasuke attacked the Leaf? Could you kill him if that was the only way to stop him?"

"What do you care?" Naruto shouted. "Just shut up!" He again tried to strike him with his rasengan, but instead heard a loud crashing noise as it pushed straight through the floor boards. The man ran outside so that Naruto could see him do it. When Naruto ran outside, he was sitting on the rooftop waiting for him.

Having heard the noise, Yamoto ran outside and restrained him with his wood style jutsu. Kakashi appeared behind him and put a lightning blade to his throat. "If you're after Naruto, I know you'll have to materialize, which makes you vulnerable. It appears we finally have you cornered."

"I'm not here to capture Naruto," the man calmly replied. "I just want to talk."

"What makes you think we'd listen to you Akatsuki?" Yamoto looked prepared to go in for the kill.

"Wait." Kakashi looked at the man and saw that same sharingan as before. Yet he hadn't used it. For some reason, the man had let himself get captured. "Let's hear what he has to say." Kakashi lowered his lightning bade slightly.

"Naruto you have peaked my interest," the man said as he stared directly at him. "You pushed Pein to his limit and may have defeated him if given the chance. You also seem to have an ability to make everyone around you believe in you and give it their best." Naruto suspected that Pein had told him about Hinata's bravery. "I had to see you for myself to decide if you're the real deal."

"I don't care about that!" Naruto yelled. "You guys recruited Sasuke. What did you do? Why is he doing this?"

"He's doing this for revenge of course," the man replied coolly.

"Revenge for what?" Yamoto asked cautiously.

"Ahh for you to understand that, you'd have to know Itachi's story. Everyone vilanized Itachi, thinking he was the worst for assassinating his own clan. In realty though, Itchi was probably the noblest of us all, certainly much more so than your village elders."

"What does that have to do with Sasuke joining the Akatsuki though?" Naruto asked. He greatly calmed down now. He sensed that something was not the way he had expected, what the man had been saying made sense.

The man proceeded to tell them the truth about Itachi. He had been ordered by the village elders to kill off his clan. If he refused, they would not allow for Sasuke to live. In order to protect his brother, he killed off his clan and became the rival his brother needed to become strong. He hid the truth from Sasuke so that he would never take revenge on the village. When he died, Itachi had tried to take the truth with him to the grave, but one Uchiha remained, and told Sasuke the truth.

In reality, Danzo had been behind the entire extermination. He had lied to the elders about the coming coup by the Uchiha, so as to eventually steal their sharingans for himself. He had already stolen one, which he hid beneath his bandages. For this reason, Sasuke was likely to go to the five kage summit to fight Danzo and kill him.

Naruto, Yamoto, and Kakashi all seemed shocked. This conspiracy was a lot to take in. "How is it that you would know all of this?" Yamoto asked. "Sasuke wouldn't have willing trusted this information with just anyone. Who are you?"

The man laughed and smiled at them. As he turned towards them, an exterior light lit up his sharingan beneath his mask. "I am Madara Uchiha, and Sasuke will be key to my plans going forward. The Akatsuki will declare war on your ninja world, and upon winning that war, we will project my jutsu across the world to control everyone and create peace. We will create a world free of war!"

"Controlling people isn't peace!" Naruto shouted. "The world needs to work together, and achieve that goal on its own."

"What a naïve child," Madara laughed. "As if such a thing were possible." Your world knows no other way to achieve peace other than destroying all its enemies. Just look at your corrupt elders!"

Naruto had had enough. He prepared another rasengan and charged at the immobilized Madara. However, Madara escaped from Yamoto's jutsu and ran away from Naruto. Madara was too fast for him to gain much ground.

"I suppose you think you can stop me," Madara taunted. "No matter, you will soon see our plans come to fruition. Your precious Sasuke has seen the light, and will never return to your village again. Revenge is the only thing Sasuke cares about now." As Naruto finally began to close the distance between them, he began to disappear. "I have somewhere else to be, so I must leave for now. Goodbye, Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto lunged at him, but by the time he did, he was gone. Naruto fell face first into the snow. The cold feeling throughout his body only reminded him that Sasuke was now that much further beyond his reach…

Mifune observed as the five kage arrived with their bodyguards. First came Gaara, the young leader of the sand. Due to his youth, the other leaders would likely discredit his opinions. Next came Onoki, the stubborn old Tsuchikage from Iwagakure. Whatever opinions he carried into the meeting would likely not change even given the wisest of council. Then came Mei Terumi, the Mizukage of the Hidden Mist. Her charms were just poison that would eat away at you while you were unknowingly deceived. A, the Raikage from the Cloud, came sometime later, seeming as though he wasn't in the greatest of moods. His temper was his undoing, and his ego dug him his own grave. Finally, Danzo arrived, along with his Black Ops guards. Here was a man who had used intimidation to claim a position given to someone else.

Mifune sighed. Every leader seemed to have major flaws that would spark tensions. It would be a miracle if someone wasn't killed before the meeting was dismissed. Still, as the overseeing elder from the Land of Iron it was his duty to do his best to keep everybody playing nicely. He held up his arms to silence the group. "Today, we convene the meeting of the five kages to discuss the matter of the Akatsuki. The rules are simple. One person speaks at a time, no interruptions. Any decisions must be presented before me, and then voted upon. Should any conflicts arise, they will be dealt with accordingly by the protectors of this land. Anyone who steps out of line will be brought to justice. Understood?"

Al five kages nodded in consent. Mifune felt slightly relieved. "Very well, then we begin."

…

"Sasuke why aren't we making our move yet?" Suigetsu was growing impatient. They had arrived early to make sure they weren't spotted by any Iron guards on the way in.

"Relax Suigetsu," Sasuke said cooly. "We need to take Danzo alone rather than needlessly risk fighting five of the greatest ninja at the same time."

"Someone's here!" Karin pointed to a dark corner nearby. They had been waiting u above the meeting in a dimly lit corridor. With the dim lighting, there were several areas shaded just well enough to hide someone. However, it seemed that the individual had no desire to conceal himself, as quickly after Karin pointed, Zetsu emerged from the corner.

"You're wasting time here. If you really think Danzo will reveal himself so easily, you're more nieve than I thought." Zetsu looked at Sasuke. "I hear he stole a sharingan from your clan. I know you want your revenge, but this seems a poor place for it."

Zetsu had hit a nerve. Sasuke wasn't so foolish as to charge out into the open. He had carefully planned an ambush for Danzo after the meeting. Sasuke readied his chidori. "And what makes you think I'd care what you think?"

Zetsu didn't have any desire to fight. He put his hand up in offering of piece and looked Sasuke in the eye. "Dano's death would have… certain benefits to all of us," he began. "I don't know what it is you're planning on doing, but why not let his earn the distrust of the other kages, and then flee for safety only to run into a trap?"

Sasuke paused a moment, considering what Zetsu was proposing. "I'll hear what you have to say."

…

The meeting had gone far from smoothly. As expected, Onoki repeatedly questioned Gaara's opinions, Lady Terumi plotted with her bodyguards while A repeatedly jeopardized the meeting, and nobody trusted Danzo. As tensions grew to a fever pitch, Danzo finally spoke up. "Our primary goal is peace, is it not?" Danzo looked around at everyone with a disapproving look. "Why then do we fight amongst ourselves? We need to unite behind a common goal!"

"And what goal would that be?" asked Lady Terumi. "As you can clearly see, none of us can agree on a resolution."

Danzo didn't seem fazed in the slightest. "We can unite behind the Black Ops! Let us protect your villages, so we can unite behind a common goal! With our protection, you will never have to worry about the Akatsuki again."

"Sounds tyrannical to me," Gaara argued. "Tell me, how did you convince the Leaf to choose you as Hokage when Tsunade died? Did you bring your Black Ops minions to the elder's doors I wonder?"

"Whether you trust me or not is one thing, but if we plan on taking down the Akatsuki, we need a leader." Danzo seemed calm and confident as ever. "Name me that leader. With my Black Ops Intel and weight with the elders, I can lead us right to the Akatsuki!"

Silence followed. It seemed that Danzo had made enough points to at least warrant consideration. "What would you suggest we do about Sasuke?"Onoki asked finally. "He was once a Leaf shinobi, but now he appears to have gone rogue and joined the Akatsuki. He needs to be taken care of just like the rest of them."

"When the time comes, he will come after me," Danzo assured. "And when he does, he will be taken care of."

"Why would he come after you?" Onoki asked. "What interest are you to…" Suddenly, a figure came out of the floor. It appeared to be some sort of creature wearing an Akatsuki robe. The creature was half white, and half black, with mismatched colored eyes.

"Why don't you ask him yourself, he's already here!" white Zetsu intervened. "Should've known this meeting would go nowhere," black Zetsu added. "Leave it to village leader to fight themselves before their enemies."

"A member of the Akatsuki!" A shouted. "A charged in and slammed the ground with incredible force, but found to his amazement that he had hit a white clone instead while the main Zetsu had teleported to safety. Zetsu just stood there watching, well out of harm's way.

Zetsu looked around as if something was missing. "It seems the Hokage has disappeared while he had the chance. Pity."

A had little patience for Zetsu's mockery. He prepared to charge in once again. "Where the hell is Sasuke you little runt?"

"If you wanted to find me so badly, you should've just asked," came a voice. The whole room went dead silent at the sound of the voice. A body flashed across the room with incredible speed, and landed on the table between the hokages. There, standing on the table, was Sasuke Uchiha…

Kisame looked dazed. Itachi Uchiha was supposed to be dead, and yet there he stood before him. What sort of place was this? Was he under his gengutsu? "What is it you wanted to speak with me about? You don't have to be so hostile, we were partners after all."

Itachi readied his sharingan, which caused Kisame to jump back with a jolt. "You betrayed everything I stood for Kisame. Even after learning the truth from Madara you remained with the Akatsuki to see his terrible plan through to the end. Why?"

"What else was I going to do?" Kisame looked completely confused about Itachi's hostile behaviour. "I'm the monster of the Mist, this is the only path I have!" Kisame pulled Samehada off his shoulder and got into battle position. "I don't know what's gotten into you with this sudden noble streak, but I recommend you cut it out before I do something I'll regret."

"There's so much more to this world than following someone else's orders," Itachi replied. He sighed. "If there's no other way for you to see that, then you leave me no choice." And with that Itachi activated his sharingan, and nothing was left to do but battle.

Kisame realized that Itachi had been one step ahead of him and had gotten behind him without him realizing. This sharingan was going to be a pain to fight. Itachi launched his fire jutsu, but Kisame blocked it with Samehada. In the same motion, Kisame used Samehada to spring himself into the air. Using his water style jutsu, he summoned a wave of water that he surfed on toward Itachi. He struck him down with Samehada, killing him. Kisame sheathed Samehada, and began to walk away.

However, the body turned into a bunch of crows, and Kisame turned to see Itachi behind him again. He had been pulled into his genjutsu yet again. Itachi launched several shuriken at him, which Kisame blocked with Samehada. Itachi followed this with another fireball that Kisame managed to avoid. The strikes came relentlessly, which seemed pointless because Kisame was able to dodge them fairly easily. It became apparent, however, tha Itachi was trying to lure Kisame into a poor position, as Kisame quickly found himself near the edge of battlefield.

Having no other choice, Kisame closed the distance between him and Itachi. In order to do so, he had to take a hit from a fireball, but the damage wasn't sufficient to cripple him. He stored his chakra and head-butted Itachi, who flew back into a pillar and fell unconscious.

Or so it appeared. Once again, Kisame had been tricked by Itachi's sharingan and found himself in a bad position. "So this I what it feels like to be under your genjutsu, huh? No wonder you're so hard to bring down." Kisame charged at Itachi, who once again activated his sharingan and blasted the stunned Kisame with his fire ball. The fire made a direct hit and sent Kisame flying backward. It was a good thing too as Itachi's eye had begun to bleed from overuse. At last, it was over.

Kisame broke apart into water droplets and evaporated. The water clone had been a perfect decoy! Now safetly behind Itachi and out of harm's way, Itachi used his water style to flood the battleground. Itachi was now forced underwater, unable to directly see Kisame. Before proceeding, Kisame released his chakra momentarily to make sure he wasn't under another genjutsu. It appeared that this time Itachi had really been hit by his jutsu.

Kisame called in five hungry sharks. The sharks swarmed around Itachi,, preparing to feed. Itachi realized that the sharks would be immune to his genjutsu. In addition, he wouldn't be able to use his fire style while surrounded by water. It seemed Kisame was the perfect match for him.

Itachi sent crow clones to distract the sharks while he built up a large amount of chakra. He then used his fireball technique around his body, forming a circle of fire. He used the heat from the flames to evaporate the water around him, releasing a huge plume of steam. He pushed toward the surface and emerged directly in view of Kisame.

"You really are quite powerful, aren't you?" Kisame looked at his former partner with a hungry grin. "I suppose you wouldn't have successfully killed off your clan otherwise, would you? Itachi Uchiha. You always had so much potential. You could have done anything!"

"And now there is only one thing for me to do. End this battle now Kisame. Leave the Akatsuki behind and join with the Allied Shinobi Forces. Do what you were born to do!"

Kisame chuckled and grinned at Itachi. "After what I've done, how could I ever expect to do something like that? They'd kill me first. Besides, something like that doesn't really interest me."

Itachi sighed. "Then you still haven't learned. Very well, I won't hold back any more."

Kisame grinned. Things were finally about to get interesting! He drew Samehada once again and absorbed the chakra from Itachi's fireball jutsu. Samehada swelled in size and fed him the extra chakra. Kisame called in another wave his water style jutsu and closed in on Itachi, this time making certain not to look into his eyes. Itachi had no escape.

"Susanoo!" Blood poured down Itachi's face as he cast his most powerful jutsu. A giant undead figure appeared between Kisame and Itachi, blocking the advance of Kisame's wave. Kisame fell back as the wave broke, and cartwheeled a distance away from the undead. He had never seen this attack from Itachi before, and therefore had no idea what it was capable of.

"This is my most powerful technique!" Itachi declared. "There is nothing you can do. Perhaps now you will reconsider and listen to reason?"

"You know better than to think I'll do that," Kisame responded chuckling. Itachi waved his hand and the Susanoo began to charge at Kisame. He blocked the attack with Samehada, but as Samehada began to absorb the chakra of the Susanoo, and reached its limit, unable to absorb all of its energy. The remaining energy was redirected at Kisame, who fell back from the attack.

Kisame had become winded and needed to regain some strength. With no other options, Kisame unwrapped Samehada, and merged with it into a shark-like form. "I shouldn't be surprised you pushed me this far, but now I'm not holding back either!"

Kisame dove down into the water and swam at Itachi at great speed. As he dove back up toward the surface, he was thrown aside by what remained of the Susanoo. Itachi then launched a fireball jutsu, but Kisame was able to evade and land a hit on Itachi. Itachi spat out blood and was thrown into the air. Luckily for him, the Susanoo caught him before he flew too high and returned him safely to the surface of the water.

Kisame prepared for another underwater attack, this time coming at Itachi from directly below him. Once aain, the Susanoo cast him aside, but it seemed like the more Itachi used it the more it drained him. Kisame repeatedly attacked him, and with each attack saw the Susanoo grow weaker.

Finally, Kisame decided to try for the knockout blow. He used his water style to raise the water level, sending Itachi below water yet again. He then charged at him, preparing to ram him with his head. He managed to land the blow, and sent Itachi flying. Sensing victory, Kisame separated himself from Samehada and swam to the surface. Itachi lay there near the edge of the water, seemingly unconscious. Kisame jumped out of the water, and unsheathed Samehada, aiming it at the unconscious Itachi.

As he did so, however, Itachi suddenly opened his eyes. "You think you've won, don't you?" He mocked. Don't sacrifice yourself for a killing blow. With that, the clone separated into a large number of crows and flew off. Kisame looked around, and found that Itachi was above and behind him, staring down at him from a nearby rooftop.

Kisame looked up in shock. "But how?" He asked.

Itachi's outline began to blur. "You fell for my genjutsu again, Kisame. You need to be more careful, just because you aren't looking at me directly doesn't mean my reflection won't harm you."

After coming so close to defeating Itachi, Kisame was frustrated. "When did you cast it on me?" He asked in rage. He feared he already knew the answer.

"Before I cast my Susanoo." Itachi looked at Kisame but this time the sharingan was absent. His face was covered in blood from using so many ocular jutsus. "This is a fight you cannot win. You are a good match for me, but you don't have the strength to defeat me at full power. At least, not yet."

"I still won't join this ninja alliance of yours," Kisame said stubbornly. "I'll stick with Madara. That's my best choice."

Itachi stared at his former partner curiously. "And where do you think that will lead you?"

"I'll serve my mission and be able to live in his world I guess." Kisame shrugged. "We do what we must for those we serve, surely you haven't abandoned that have you? After all, it is your motto. I can make a difference in this war, and as long as I'm around to witness it, I could care less what others want."

Silence ensued. For quite some time, the two shinobi stood at standoff with each other. Finally, Itachi spoke. "Let me show you what will happen if you follow this path. Then you can decide for yourself if this is what you truly want."

Itachi used his sharingan to cast a vision in Kisame's head. He saw Madara's eye on the moon, looking down on everyone. Brainwashed people moved around, having no free will to do anything but what they were told. Above everything stood a giant black figure with ten tail come from it, with Madara sitting on its shoulder. There were several graves, one each for Naruto, Kikashi Hitake, and all the other village leaders.

Upon a ledge was Sasuke Uchha, standing with Orochimaru. There was nothing but coldness left in his eyes, and he had been completely taken over by his curse. He watched cruely as the world was stripped of its freedom. No man by the name of Kisame Hoshigaki was anywhere to be found.

Then the scene hanged. Kisame wason an island, fighting with a ninja from the Cloud. It was B, the eight tails jinjuriki. When the jinjuriki was about to be defeated, Might Guy came to his aid. After a long battle, Guy defeated Kisame and captured him. Faced with the option of divulging information or taking it to the grave, Kisame ordered his sharks to devour him.

Itachi returned to reality facing Itachi. "This will come to pass if you follow this path. What will you do, Kisame?"

Kisame lunged at him. Itachi, having exhausted his chakra, pulled out his sword and parried of Samehada. "This can't be the future! How would you be able to see such a thing?"

"I am dead, Kisame. I can see many things that you are not capable of seeing. Like how this battle will end."

The two fought on in a great show of swordsmanship and taijutsu. Kisame launched attack after attack with Samehada, while Itachi turned them away. It seemed that Itachi grew more powerful as the fight went on. Almost as if he were being fed by some sort of external energy. Meanwhile, as Kisame was flooded with doubt he seemed to grow weaker.

The two fought their way to the edge of the rooftop. Kisame launched an attack, and once again watch Itachi block it. This time, however, Itachi swept Kisame's legs out from under him, and sent him tumbling off the edge. Kisame grasped a ledge, and slowly pulled him up. As he did, Itachi had a sword at his throat. "I told you, this is a fight you cannot win. This is a fight you are meant to lose. And now it's time for you to make a choice!"

"You have nothing left to threaten me with!" Kisame argued. "You showed me my own death. It seems, I am destined to die, whether here, there, or fighting for the allies."

Itachi pulled his sword away. "If you make a choice, the right choice, you may yet have a future. You may even be able to make a real difference in the world." Itachi's expression suddenly turned much softer. "Kisame, don't throw your life away!"

Kisame was stunned. All his life, he had known his partner who lived his whole life filled with the pain of having done awful thing to his own clan. A pain he had shared, having done something similar. Now, it seemed Itachi was ready to completely abandon that pain and chose his own path. Was that something he really could do for himself?

Kisame lunged at him again, this time drawing energy from Samehada. He exchanged blows with Itachi, who seemed to be holding back now. Itachi launched a weak taijutsu that hit Kisame in the lower body, forcing him to stagger slightly. It seemed to leave an opening though. Kisame pushed Itachi back with a large amount of force. The man who killed his clan toppled to the ground and lay mere inches from the edge of the abyss below.

"If I kill you here, what will happen to you?"

"I'll be unable to return to the real world to carry out my last mission. To save my brother."

Kisame had not expected a response like this. What did he mean to save his brother? Did he intend to keep Sasuke from becoming the man Ksame saw n Itachi's vision?

"Kisame."

Itachi's voice was weak now. He had expended all his energy and was completely vulnerable.

Itachi extended his hand. Kisame did not move. He remembered all the time Itachi had talked about his younger brother, and all the things he wished he could have done to protect him. Kisame leaned over to look into Itachi's eyes. With two fingers, Itachi pushed his hand toward Kisame's forehead and retracted his arm. For the first time since he had known him, Kisame saw Itachi smile at him. The void began to fade, and Itachi disappeared with the world around him. Everything turned bright, and vanished.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4- The Ties That Bond

 _NOTES: Yes, I ripped off the title for the chapter. It's such a good title though. I've been trying to get back to some Naruto roots here, and that's why I wrote a 7 page long epic fight. These things, along with my additions, have caused me to make slow progress though, so bear with me. For those of you who are weak of heart, this chapter is going to contain some hard core emotional content not for the faint of heart. Be warned._

Sakura sat staring out a window. The snow flew outside, blanketing all the world in snow. It was cold enough that she had to wear a coat indoors. She had left along with Kiba and Sai not three days ago to go to the Land of Iron. She had to find Naruto before it was too late.

Still, she didn't rest easy at night. Maybe it was too much night-time tea. She wondered what her place was, what it was that she was supposed to do to make a difference. She kept thinking back on the tearful cry for help she made to Naruto nearly three years ago. The life she led then seemed like a foreign concept to her now.

Kiba came up to her and patted her on the shoulder. "Sakura we'd better be moving on. If we linger, will never catch Naruto in time."

Sakura's resolve hardened as she remembered her mission. This was no time to mope around. "You're right, let's get going."

…

"So you're Sasuke Uchiha, eh?"The lord Raikage sensed a dark aura around him. Much to be expected, considering his recent involvement with the Akatsuki. "You've got a lot of nerve coming here after hunting down my brother!" A prepared to attack. As Sasuke turned to face him it appeared that a battle would soon break out.

However, a blast came into the room from above, filling the whole room with dust. "You'll have your chance for vengeance soon, Lord Raikage." His voice was rhythmic and made the whole room shake. "But not today." The kages looked up to search for the source of the voice, and saw the destroyer of the Leaf. His eyes were cruel and powerful, as though one mere glance could shoot someone full of lightning.

"You!" The Raikage prepared for another attack. "Leader of the Akatsuki, you ordered the attack on my brother!" The Raikage shouted in rage and his whole body was surrounded by a giant ball of lightning. "I'll give you what you deserve!"

The battle continued for several minutes, with A eventually discovering Pein's weakness. A launched a series of lightning strikes at Pein, then charged at him from behind immediately after he had used his jutsu. However, out of nowhere, a woman blocked his attack with what appeared to be angel wings. Then, with an incredible display of power, Pein pulled together giant beams from the building, causing the roof to collapse. As it did, he trapped the Raikage underneath the materials, rendering him immobilized.

"Now Sasuke, do what you came here for," Pein instructed. Sasuke nodded his head and walked over to Gaara.

"So you're the Kazekage now, huh? Seems you've learned. People will follow anyone with power." He looked down into Gaara's eyes, which were fixed on him. "I have a message for you to bring to Naruto."

"Oh, and what might that be?" Gaara asked cautiously

Sasuke smiled and readied his chidori. He two fought briefly, with Sasuke charging with his chidori. Gaara dodged it and attacked with his sand coffin jutsu. Driven mad by his new power, Sasuke summoned his Susanoo and used it as a shield. Blood poured out of his eye as he attacked Gaara with it. Gaaara held his ground for a while, but without the power of the one tails he wasn't much of a match for him. Sasuke's Susanoo charged in and broke straight through Gaara's sand shield. Gaara was grabbed and imprisoned while Sasuke readied one last chidori.

Just when it looked like Sasuke was about to end the fight, he was pushed back by a force not even he could resist. "That's enough Sasuke, you've made your point." Pein turned back toward the kages. "I am here with a proposal. It's quite simple, really. Join us or die!"

The kages looked at Pein in shock. "You must be quite ignorant if you think we'll join your Akatsuki," Onoki mocked. "Just who do you think you are?"

"We are Pein of course. We are the one God meant to rule over this world. We will untie the world in peace, and obliterate anyone who dare stand in the path of the almighty."

"And people say I have ego issues," A intervened, somehow still conscious. Though restrained, he still didn't seem to hold back with his intimidation.

Pein looked at him cooly, unfazed. "Perhaps you'd like a demonstration?" And with that Pein used his jutsu to pull A's bodyguard toward him and lift him up into the air. With just the two words 'Almighty Push' he crushed his trachea and collapsed his entire rib cage. The shrivelled up corpse that used to be a strong man fell to the ground. Pein didn't seemed I the slightest bit weary from the jutsu, it looked as easy as crushing a soda can.

Mifune sighed and turned to Pein. "What is it that you want? What is your plan for this world?"

"We will create peace," Pein replied. "It's really that simple. We will capture all the tailed beasts, and use them to recreate the ten tails." This caught the attention of the entire audience. Everyone knew well the story of the Sage of Six Paths and how he stopped the ten tails from destroying the world. If it was somehow brought back, that couldn't be good news for the ninja world. "Through the use of this tailed beast weapon, we will stop the world from fighting. Fear will ultimately be much stronger than hatred."

"No one will buy into your plan! " Lady Terumi argued valiantly. "There will always be those who resist you. You can't control the world with fear."

"Of course there will be some who resist," Pein slyly replied, still not even slightly agitated. "No matter how pointless it is, there will be those who try. Some will be dealt with to send a message, but the others will be controlled. You see, not only do we have the rinnegan on our side, but the sharingan as well. Madara Uchiha yet lives, and he will use his ocular powers to control people by projecting has sharngan onto the moon. The entire world will know true pain as they see their loved ones either killed or brainwashed, and thus they will no longer resist!"

The kages were in shock. Madara Uchiha? How could he still be alive? "You're bluffing," Terumi accused. "I am the greatest liar in the ninja world, and I can sense a tall tale when I hear one. Madara Uchiha died hundreds of years ago. And besides, no man could have that kind of power. If Madara's alive, then where is he?"

"Right here." A black figure shot out of the ceiling and landed next to Sasuke, Conan, and Pein. His face was completely covered, save for one eye that stared out at them. The eye of the sharingan.

"It cannot be!" Gaara gasped under his breath. He gazed into the eye. Chills shot through him as he felt the terrible aura of the sharingan.

"Enough of this!" A broke free from his restraints and charged at Madara, preparing to strike a killing blow. Surprisingly, Madara didn't even try to dodge the attack, much less cast any sort of jutsu. He just stood there and watched as A's strike went straight through him. A stood in shock, wondering how he could possibly come up empty.

"Now do you understand? There is no victory here for you." Madara paused to give them a cold intimidating stare. "We will bring a lasting peace to the world that will go unbroken for an eternity. I will become the ten tails' jinjuriki, and with that power I will control everything." Madara glanced around the room. "Now, will you join us, or try to resist us?"

"We could never join such a cause!" Gaara's looked at Madara without fear. The young leader would never give in to such a corrupt cause.

"Then it's war then," Pein replied. Pein looked around the room. All of the shinobi looked on them with hatred on their faces. The same hatred he had seen in the war he experienced as a child. "This marks the beginning of the Fourth Great Shinobi War."

"We'll slaughter you like pigs!" A's anger seemed to still be at boil thanks to his desire for vengeance. "The Akatsuki we'll be destroyed!"

Madara laughed loud enough for everyone in the room to hear him. "Confident bunch. Very well, prepare yourselves! The next time we meet it will be on the battlefield." And with that Madara cast some sort of teleportation jutsu, and the four Akatsuki disappeared before their very eyes.

After a long pause, it was Mifune who finally broke the silence. "Well then, what are we to do about this declaration of war?" This set up a log argument and debate, with all sides arguing about everything; open war, stealth missions, who would lead this, could the others be trusted, and even what type of food would be supplied to troops. Finally, it was Gaaara, the young leader who spoke up.

"Enough!" Gaara shouted loud enough to silence the entire room. Full of determination and a little rage, Gaara addressed the entire council. "When did all of you forsake yourselves? How could you leave the future of the entire ninja world in limbo over petty arguments? They only way we can win is if we stand together! If we don't, we don't stand a chance."

The room fell silent once again. Finally, Lady Terumi spoke up. "The Kazekage is right. We must stand together. Most of the room nodded in agreement, although Onoki sat still."

"Very well, we shall form the Allied Sinobi Forces," Mifune announced. Again the room nodded in agreement. "We samurai of the Land of Iron will also participate in this war. Who will lead the force on the battlefield?"

Again, a great deal of disagreement followed. A, Terumi, and Onoki all argued to be in charge. Finally, the room settled on the lord Raikage, but Onoki was dissatisfied with this decision. "How can I accept such a decision?"

The council took a practical approach into breaking Onoki's stubbornness. They grabbed his walker and bolted it to the ceiling, letting all the blood rush to his head. After an hour, the stubborn old man finally yielded, and agreed to cooperate. At last, everyone was on the same page.

"Very well then, the meeting of the five kages concludes here" Mifune announced.

"What of the Leaf though?" Terumi asked. "With Danzo absent, they haven't consented to anything."

"I'll speak to the one man I trust, Kakashi Hitake." Gaara offered. "I'm closest with the Leaf, they will respect my council in this matter."

"So be it." Mifune turned to the council and shoved a staff into the ground. "The Allied Shinobi Force of all five villages and the samurai's of the Iron is hereby formed. This team will be led by the lord Raikage. We will next meet on the battlefield. Prepare yourselves!"

…

"The Akatsuki are now at war with the shinobi," Madara announced to the others. "It is time for us to decide what our next move is. We cannot fight this was without first securing the other two tailed beasts."

"It would also be useful to locate Kisame," Konan pointed. Kisame's absence had managed to go unnoticed until that point.

"Perhaps he died trying to capture the eight-tails?" white Zetsu offered. "Or he successful captured it and kept it for himself." Black Zetsu added.

"He remains alive, can feel his presence," Pein added. "We can only assume he was unsuccessful in capturing it. It can't be helped, he was instructed to escape alive. We have another plan for the eight-tails."

"What of the nine-tails though?" white Zetsu asked. "He's under close guard by the Leaf, it will be difficult to reach him." Black Zetsu laughed at his other half. "Scared to get our hands dirty are we?"

"The matter of the nine-tails has already been taken care of," Madara assured. "We will have a shinobi familiar with the Leaf infiltrate and capture the nine-tails jinjurki. And for good measure, we'll make sure he's permanently killed after the beast is extracted. We can't have another Gaara, we need to make sure we finish the job this time."

"And who would you suggest for such a job?" Konan asked. "You can't possibly be considering sending Kabuto…" It was no secret that she didn't trust Kabuto much. It seemed all too convenient that he just happened to show up when the Akatsuki needed him.

Kabuto seemed to show no offense to this comment. Rather he turned to Madara, looking for an answer. The others quickly followed suit. Madara turned to Sasuke, who caught his glance. "Sasuke, how would you like to infiltrate the Leaf, and get your revenge by exterminating the Naruto?"

A twisted smile formed on Sasuke's face, madness written all over it. He looked on with interest. "Nothing would please me more."

"So it's decided then." Madara turned to the rest of the Akatsuki. "Sasuke will secure the nine-tails, and Kisame will capture the eight-tails. Once those two are secure, we will proceed with the plan. Until then, you are all dismissed."

Suddenly, Pein waved him off, signalling for everyone to remain where they were. His eyes widened as he turned to a corner of the room. "We aren't alone!" He used his jutsu to blast a hole in the ceiling, revealing a man pale as ash. He wore a headband made of shiny steel. On it was an insignia… the insignia of the Leaf Village. "He's a Leaf shinobi!"

Sai quickly pulled out a scroll. An eagle emerged and charged at the Akatsuki, spreading it's wings and keeping them from being able to pursue the intruder. Pein pushed it back with his jutsu, but when he pushed it back into the man, he fell over and disintegrated into a puddle of ink. The man had been nothing more than a clone.

"Damn it!" Pein swore. "What are we to do now? They'll know we're coming!"

"Good." Madara's response surprised the entire group He seemed calmer, rather than panicked. "Let him go. He won't tell Naruto about our plans. If they do, the truth will tear him apart."

…

A ran through the snow as swiftly it could carry him, along with his guards. Where the hell had B gone off to? Who did he think he was, going off into the wilderness like that when the whole village thought he was dead?

"My Lord Raikage, I see something up ahead."

A looked forward, and sure enough a giant sphere of water appeared in the distance. "We need to head there, now," A ordered.

They tracked down the sphere of water to an empty grove in the forest. Once there, they saw B battling with a shark-like monster. The monster charged at B, who dodged but was clearly running out of gas. His half-assed counter barely would've harmed a fly. A sensed the urgency of the matter and charged in. His guards quickly pulled B out of the water as A used his lightning to send shockwaves through it.

Kisame, unable to handle the electricity, was forced to release the jutsu and send water flowing off into the forest. While he was distracted, a sent a lightning blade through him, causing Kisame to collapse. Only, it wasn't Kisame. A white Zestu clone appeared in his place.

Frustrated from a pointless fight, A released all his anger on B. He lectured him for his irresponsibility for what seemed like several hours. At last, A sighed. "We need to take you some place safe," he said to B. "The Akatsuki will be after you. Go find Naruto and bring him to the Cloud along with Kakashi and Yamoto. We have something important to discuss."

…

"Are you sure?" Sakura knew what she had heard, but she could scarcely believe it.

"Without a doubt," Sai assured her. "Sasuke intends to kill Naruto and capture the nine-tails for the Akatsuki. He used his fight with me to send a message of just how powerful he has become."

Sakura looked down, trying to accept this reality. How could Sasuke become so twisted? Naruto had once been his closest friend.

"Sakura." Sakura looked up at Gaara. His face looked empathetic and sad, as if Gaara understood what Sakura was feeling. "Sasuke has been lost. He is no longer the teammate you once knew. You can't save him."

The team looked on Sakura with concern, but she was surprisingly calm. She looked up at the team with nothing but determination on her face. "We have a mission to carry out." Her eyes were so fierce they could've been ablaze. Sakura turned to Gaara. "We have to find Naruto."

Gaara nodded. "I also have business with Naruto, as well as Kakashi. I am told the two are traveling together."

"Will you come with us then?" Kiba asked.

"No." Sakura's resolve hardened again. "I need to speak with him first. Alone. You all should wait here, I'll send them to you when I am finished."

"Sakura you can't go alone in the sn…" Kiba began, but her gaze stopped him. Any argument seemed pointless, no one could stop her. "What will you do?"

"I'll do what I should've done a long time ago." And with that Sakura disappeared by herself into the snow, leaving the others behind.

…

Being on watch was so boring. Naruto hated waiting around for things to happen, he would rather make them happen. Everything Madara told him made him feel a sense of urgency he couldn't contain. To make matters worse, he had agreed with Captain Yamoto and Kakashi sensei to not tell anyone about what Madara had said until they decided it was the right time. All the conspiracy stuff about Itachi, could that really drive Sasuke to join the Akatsuki?

Naruto stared out in to the snow. It was falling pretty heavily now, making the area dark. The lights around the cabin they were in were lit, almost as if it were the pitch dark of midnight, even though the sun had not quite set yet. As Naruto watched the snow fall, he thought of Sakura, probably half a world away in the Leaf Village, winding down from a day of training. With her old sensei dead, she was training with an old student of Tsunade's. Naruto tried to recall his name. Coin perhaps.

Thinking about Sakura made him smile. There wasn't one person in the world he was happier around. More himself around. Sakura brought out the best in Naruto, always motivating him to do bigger and better things. She had always believed in him, and he fed off that faith.

He really, truly loved her. And because of that, he held the promise he made to her all those years ago more dearly than anyone could possibly imagine. He remembered her tear covered face, crying for Sasuke to return. He would do anything to bring him back for her. To bring Sasuke back home.

Something moved in the distance. Naruto sat up to make sure he wasn't imagining thing. He saw it again. It was moving towards him. A white silhouette, moving across the snow like a ghost. He called for Yamoto and Kakashi, who came to his side immediately, prepared to defend against any threat. As the figure came closer, it became clear that it seemed to look somewhat familiar. The robes the figure war were embroidered with the Leaf insignia.

"Show yourself!" Yaamoto ordered. "Who are you?"

The figure pulled off the robes covering it, so that her face and signature pink hair were visible. She looked up at them. As she stared into her eyes, there could be no doubt who stood before them. "Sakura, what are you doing up here?" Naruto asked in disbelief. He jumped down to her. "Come inside it's cold out here."

Sakura stood there, not showing any indication of being cold. "Naruto, I need to speak with you, just you." Yamoto and Kakashi looked on at them, unsure what her intentions were. Still, they trusted her so the disappeared back inside the cabin.

"What's this about Sakura?" Naruto asked. "You come all this way, alone and in the snow. This must be important."

"You're right, it is important." Sakure hesitated, choosing the right words. "Naruto, I've been thinking about things a lot lately. About how Sasuke's gone, and how the whole world is beginning to change." Sakura looked down at herself and then back at Naruto. "We've changed a lot too, haven't we?"

"We have," Naruto agreed cautiously. He had absolutely no idea where she was going with this, half expecting to get punched for something he didn't deserve, or perhaps at least only kind of deserved.

"Naruto, when I think of Sasuke, I realized I don't care anymore. I don't feel a thing for him, because he's not relevant in my life anymore." She paused, blushing a little bit. "Someone else has stolen my heart away from him. Someone who has always been there for me, and would do anything for me."

Naruto was not exactly smart with this kind of thing, so he was still completely oblivious to what was going on. What did she mean she didn't care about Sasuke anymore? He remembered once again how devastated she had been when he left. Had she really moved past that?

"I suppose you wouldn't have noticed since you were gone so long. The whole time you were gone, I missed someone so badly my heart would ache. But it wasn't who I thought it was. No, it was someone else!"

"Oy! You can tell Kiba we had a deal!" Naruto snapped. "How could you fall in love with Kiba after all we've been through?"

A flicker of rage crossed Sakura's face. She punched him so hard he fell head first into the snow. Realizing she had probably gone too far, she dug Naruto out, who had become unconscious. Perhaps Yamoto and Kakashi had been wrong to trust her.

Naruto looked so peaceful when he was asleep. She had never noticed it before, but he had always slept with a smile on his face. This time, it gave the impression that he was happy she had hit her. Whatever world he was in now was all his own.

Sakura had confessed her feelings for him. The two got married, and on their wedding day, Kakashi read the vows He was such a good minister. Sasuke was the best man, having seen the error of his ways and returned to the village. And on the wedding night, oh man that was special. When she took off her shirt…

"Naruto!" Sakura woke up Naruto with a splash of water. She seemed a tad bit worried. Such a shame, she had interrupted the best part. Still, those concerning eyes of hers made him feel guilty somehow. Why couldn't he do more for her, be more for her?

Sakura was looking away her hair covering her eyes. "I'm sorry that I hit you." Naruto was in shock. Never before, not a single time, had Sakura ever apologized for hitting him.

Naruto looked at her, and lifted her chin so he could see into her eyes. "No, I'm sorry. I was an idiot, and you were telling me something important right?"

Sakura looked away and nodded, blushing once again. "Naruto, I…" she paused for quite a while, with no sound but the crackling of the fire. She seemed frozen, unable to finish her sentence. Just as Naruto began to ask her again, she turned and kissed him.

The warm feeling of Sakura's kiss sent Naruto into heaven. It was everything he had ever hoped it'd be, and then some. Time seemed to stop as the entire world vanished except for the beautiful thing in front of him. As they pulled apart, Sakura gave him a sheepish smile, and blushed once more. "Naruto, I love you."

Naruto was still unable to process what had just happened. Eventually, he found his words. "So you came all the way here to confess your love? Are you sure this is the right time?"

"Now might be the only time. Naruto, the Akatsuki are after you. They want the nine-tails and they'll stop at nothing to get it. Sasuke's even a member now, and who knows what they'll have him do.

So Sasuke was actually an Akatsuki member then. It seemed crazy that he would join an organization like that. Still, it was odd that Sakura had confirmed that information to him. She had been in the Leaf this whole time. Or at least, that's where she said she was. She didn't seem even slightly bothered her long time teammate was working with the enemy. Something wasn't right.

Saskura embraced him, and pulled him close. She kissed him again, and then rested her head in his chest. "Naruto, I've given up on Sasuke. You're the only one I love now. Please don't throw your life away over some silly promise you made to me so long ago. It doesn't matter anymore."

Naruto's eyes opened wide in sudden realization. He pushed her away and gave her an angry glance straight in her eye. "How dare you play with my emotions like this? How can you lie to me, tell me you love me, when you really love Sasuke? How can you break my heart by telling me the words I've wanted to hear my entire life, only for them to be false? How can you lie to yourself and make yourself believe that this is the way you feel?"

Sakura was stunned. She had not expected and outburst like this, and stood there in shock for several moments. The shock gradually turned to sorrow, and tears rolled down her eyes. "How can you question my feelings for you, after all we've been through. You mean the world to me, Naruto, and I can't lose you the way I lost Sasuke." Tears were streaming down her face in desperation now. "Please don't leave me here alone!"

Naruto's expression softened as he saw the emotional wreck Sakura had become. He hugged her as she cried herself out. "Sakura, do you really love me?" Naruto asked.

"I do," Sakura insisted. She tried to gather herself and regain her composure as best she could.

Naruto stepped back and gave her a sympathetic glance. "I can't go back on my promise. I won't. I would do anything in the world for you Sakura, and I know what you want more than anything is Sasuke. Even if that isn't what you feel now, or what you think now, it's what you really want. I would go to the corners of the earth to find him for you. And that's exactly what I'm going to do."

Sakura seemed frustrated now. "If you'd do anything for me, then listen to me. I don't want you to bring back Sasuke anymore. The promise we made doesn't matter anymore. Please Naruto!" She gave him a desperate glare similar to a man on death row begging for his life. "Come back to the village with me. Forget about Sasuke!"

Naruto didn't seem to believe this. He looked on at her with his arms crossed, disbelief all over his face. "You know, as long as I've known you, all I've ever heard you talk about is Sasuke. You've turned me down countless times, and each time it hurt a lot more than you can believe." Naruto looked down at the snow as he remembered his childhood. He remembered chasing Sakura, doing his best to show his feelings for her, only for her to reject him and run to Sasuke over and over again. His heart began to ache at the thought of it.

"Why would you love me now, after all this time? You always ignored me, completely disregarding my feelings so that you can be closer to Sasuke." Naruto paused looking out into the snow. It was falling steadily, but somehow it seemed fitting. The wind had stop blowing, leaving only the quiet of the snow as it slowly consumed everything. "There was never space in your heart for me, Sakura."

For a moment, guilt flashed across Sakura's face, but it was gone so quickly that it was hard to tell if it was really there at all. The feeling was replaced by rage, as Sakura's face hardened. "If you don't care about me, then I'll head back to the Leaf myself!"

Naruto tried to intervene. "Sakura…"

"No, I'm done. You took my feelings and dismissed them as false. You're going to get yourself killed on this stupid Sasuke quest!"

"Sasuke's my friend!" Naruto argued. "There's still good in him, and I will save him."

"He's trying to kill you!" Sakura shouted out at him. She looked guilty immediately after saying that. She probably shouldn't have told him that, but she did. Naruto's face was covered in shock. "The mission he has been assigned by the Akatsuki is to capture the nine-tails, and kill its jinjurki host." She turned her back to him, trying to make him understand. "If you want to go pursue a reckless mission like this fine. But you'll have to do it alone." She started to move away into the snow.

"Sakura wait!" Naruto grabbed her arm, trying to stop her.

Sakura was unable to speak, her back still faced toward Naruto as she looked off into the snow. It was at least a foot deep now, and still it fell just as before. Her voice shook as she finally spoke. "Leave me alone, Naruto. I'm going." She pushed his arm off and started walking off again.

Naruto ran after her and grabbed her arm again. "Sakura…"

Sakura was clearly losing her resolve now as she tried to fight him off. "Let me go!" she shouted. She kept trying to break away and as she did Naruto restrained her, until finally she collapsed on the ground and began sobbing.

"Naruto, I'm sorry!" she said much more faintly through her tears. This was no longer the usual Sakura with her strong will and powerful energy. Sakura's will seemed to be completely broken as she lay there in the snow. "Through all those years I ended up hurting you, not even realizing it. I don't know when I started loving Sasuke, maybe it was when we first met. I'm sad now because that team will never be together again. I'm sad because Sasuke won't ever come back. And most of all, I'm sad because I don't love you the way you love me. You've always been kind to me, Naruto, and all I did was break your heart."

Naruto looked at her and saw the kind of weakness he never expected to see for Sakura. "Sakura, it's okay." She gasped, surprised by his willingness to be so forgiving. Her tears momentarily stopped as he grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet. She looked into his eyes, and was shocked at how familiar they seemed. That same stupid idiot who stopped at nothing to embarrass her was there in front of her.

"How can it be okay?" she asked him. "You've never been good enough for me, all I've done is make you miserable."

Naruto hugged her. The suddenness of his hug made her feel confused. Such a warm, tender response from a person she had done nothing but hurt. "You've been Sakura, and that's all I can ever ask for," Naruto said with a smile on his face. "There's more to what's going on with Sasuke. He feels betrayed too, and I still believe I can bring him back. And when I do, it'll be for you."

Sakura pulled away from. "And despite all of that, you still love me?" She searched his face for any hint that he might be hiding something beneath that same stupid grin, but as always, Naruto's cheerful appearance was sincere.

"Always," Naruto answered with a smile.

"Idiot."

…


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5- The Anbu Black Ops

 _NOTES: It's been slow progress so far, but now I feel like I can pick up the pace a little bit. There will be some time gaps, which I'll mention as they occur. All of the filler is getting cut out, I don't really think it adds much to the story. I'll be adding a big twist in this one, so watch for that._

Danzo was quite pleased with himself. That ignorant Uchiha probably thought he was trying to flee somewhere safe. When he pursued him at let his guard down, Danzo could overpower him and kill him. Everything was going according to plan.

Danzo stopped at some ruins, filled with ancient shinobi relics. It seemed that the Land of Iron really cared for preserving things. Who knew why? Full sets of swords, shuriken, and many other weapons were stored away, some of which were still in good enough condition to be used. If he so desired, Danzo could are himself here.

Instead, he chose to wait. He ordered his guard to return to the Leaf while he waited to confront the rogue ninja. Sure enough, he presented himself to Danzo not long afterward. Danzo looked closely at the Uchiha and saw nothing but anger and a desire for revenge. He had grown significantly over the years, and looked significantly stronger than many others his age. His eyes were red, already prepared with his sharingan. Yet, he wasn't using it for some strange reason. "You found my hiding place, Sasuke."

Sasuke gave him a sly smirk. "You don't really think I'm naive enough to believe you fled for your own protection do you, Danzo?" He shook his head mockingly. "No, you drew me out here because you knew this confrontation would happen, and you hoped to use it to silence me so the truth never got out about the coup."

Sauke had caught Danzo's attention with this statement. "So you do know about that then? Yes, I gave the order for your brother to exterminate your clan. But he wouldn't kill you. Pity, he could have save me the trouble." Danzo began to unwrap the covering on the other side of his face and exposed, to Sasuke's amazement, an eye wielding the sharingan. "I guess now I'll have another eye to add to my collection."

This comment enraged Sasuke, and thus the two engaged. Sauke's superior speed allowed him to get in position for several chidori strikes, but Danzo was adept enough with his sharingan to evade the attacks. He landed a taijutsu kick to Sasuke's ribs, making him cough up scarlet blood. Several of his ribs were broken, forcing Sasuke to drop to a knee and pant from the pain.

"It's funny that you blame me when you don't understand the true purpose of the Anbu Black Ops," Danzo scolded. "Did you really think that all we did was collect Intel and execute top secret missions?" Sasuke looked up at him, clearly still in a great deal of pain. It seemed, however that something in Danzo's words was grabbing his attention. "Our operation is much bigger than you think." Sasuke got to his feet, still panting heavily and holding his ribs. He looked on Danzo with anger now. "I have more power than you can possibly imagine. Ordering your brother to exterminate the Uchiha's was just a taste."

"What are you planning?" Sasuke asked him through the pain. "What is it that you want?"

Danzo smiled, with the look on his face resembling a serpent preparing to pounce on its prey. "Haven't you wondered why the Akatsuki are the only ones pursuing the power of the tailed beasts? We have a jinjuriki right in front of our nose, think about the kind of power we could have if we wielded his abilities! We could use his abilities to defeat the other villages, so that the Black Ops can control all the villages!"

This shocked even Sasuke. He knew Danzo had corrupted motives, but he thought he only did it to gain position within the Leaf, not to take control over everything. Sasuke tried to ready another chidori, but failed from a lack of energy.

"We have a plan for the world that I want to see through; our own plan." He began to walk toward Sasuke, a determined look lighting up his face. "And it all begins…" he pulled out a stolen Land of Iron sword artefact he had stolen and shoved it through Sasuke's core. "…with your death."

Danzo pulled the sword out of Sasuke and began to walk away as Sasuke fell over on the ground. His face met the cold stone of the ruins, which felt increasingly warm to him. The world began to fade away as his eyes went dark. Everything felt completely numb. At last, the muscles in his hand relaxed as his entire body went limp…

"We need your help in our war efforts, Lord Kakashi," Gaara explained. "It is the wish of the council that the Leaf cooperate in this war effort, and escort Naruto to the designated safe place."

Kiba stepped in between them and shook his head. "No way Naruto agrees to that. He'll want to be a part of the war effort, not vacationing on some island off in the middle of nowhere. He's stubborn too, you know that Kakashi sensei."

Kakahshi sat with his eyes closed, clearly trying to concentrate on making a decision. Going to war with Akatsuki was bold, perhaps too bold. More lives would certainly be lost, and who knows what other obstacles lay ahead. After a while, Kakashi finally made a choice. "If this war is going to happen, the Leaf will support it." Kakashi hesitated a second. "As for Naruto, I'll tell him he's going away to train with B."

Gaara looked pleased. "I knew you'd make the right decision Kakashi. You will make a fine Hokage. He turned around, then froze in his tracks. He looked around frantically, almost as if he'd lost something. "Where'd Naruto go?"

Sakura dashed off, knowing she was the only one who knew where he was off too. She followed his trail, and eventually caught up to him. "Where do you think you're going?" She asked him as they continued running through the trees.

He turned to her, amazed she was able to catch him so fast. Then he looked back forward, with a determined look of his face. "My shadow clone found Sasuke's trail. It's fresh!"

Sakura looked at Naruto in amazement. He never gave up, no matter how hopeless a situation seemed. "You know Yamoto and Kakashi will be on our trail, right?"

"I'm counting on it," he answered. "A little back up never hurts after all."

Sakura smiled to herself. Naruto was never one to ask for help. He always just charged in blindly and made a mess of things. Maybe he was growing up after all. Naruto then proceeded to trip on a branch, fall over, and roll several feet in the snow before hitting a tree, which dropped a large pinecone on his head. Then again, maybe he still needed a little more time…

"Don't be so stubborn Sasuke! Just let me have a turn on the target!" Naruto was getting impatient, Sasuke had been training on the target the whole time, not giving Naruto a single chance to practice. "What could possibly be so important that you can't spare one moment of training time?"

"Come back later," Sasuke demanded coldly "I'm using it right now." He returned to his training and launched several chidori at the target, each one landing a perfect-bulls eye. This made Naruto all the more upset, as he had never been able to get a bulls-eye on the target with his rasengan.

Someone came running toward them. She was short with long pink hair, and a ribbon. She panted for breath as she finally reached them. She grabbed Sasuke by the arm and tried to pull him with her. "Don't tell me you forgot about our test with Kakashi sensei, Sasuke. Come on, let's go." She tried harder to pull him along, but still he wouldn't budge.

"Yeah, go on Sasuke!" A huge grin formed across Naruto's face. "Then I can have all the training dummies to myself!" Bang! Naruto fell to the ground as he took a punch from Sakura.

"We need you too, idiot." She dragged him off to the side where he wouldn't interfere, and piled him there. She grabbed Sasuke again. "Come on Sasuke let's go!" Still he refused.

Someone else approached the team. Kakashi walked toward them, holding a copy of Jiraya's latest book. He laughed to himself as he read one last page before closing the book. He looked up at his team. "What's all this fighting about?"

"We were just getting ready for your big test Kakashi sensei!" Naruto somehow bolted upright, almost as though the punch didn't even hit him (much to Sakura's dismay).

"Hmm, I don't think you'll win like that." He pointed at the group, which at a glance, looked more like a fighting pack of hyenas than a team of shinobi. "If you want to pass my test, you're going to have to work as a team." Naruto and Sakura reluctantly nodded in consent, but Sasuke stood in the same spot, fixed on his target.

Kakashi walked up to Sasuke and rested a hand on his shoulder. "I know you want revenge, Sasuke, but you don't have to deal with it alone. Your team is here to help you, every step of the way." Naruto and Sakura heartily agreed. A rare smile formed across Sasuke's face, as he nodded as well, and followed his team.

"So what's our test, Kakashi sensei?" the ever eager Nartuo asked. Kakashi turned to his young student, and saw that same determination in his eyes.

"You'll just have to wait and see," he answered. He quietly hid the bells in his pocket, careful not to let them hear it…

Sasuke awoke to find himself lying on a large slab of rock. He was still in the ruins, just as he had been before. It seemed it had been just a dream. Although, something didn't seem right. Shouldn't he have died before? Why was he still alive?

"If you honestly thought I'd kill you that quickly, you're gravely mistaken," came a voice. Out of a nearby shadow came the crippled figure of Danzo. So it seemed that he was still here after all. "I have a proposition for you that I'd like you to hear. It's a secret mission of the Anbu Black Ops, no one knows about it but me and a few key agents." He had rebandaged his eye and arm, and used his good eye to stare down at Sasuke. "Of course, if you refuse, I will kill you."

Sasuke tried to pull himself to his feet, but couldn't. He fell right back down on to the ground. Out of options, he was forced to at least listen to Danzo's proposal while he regained his strength. "What sort of proposal?"

Danzo paused and looked out at the ruins. The sun was out now, allowing for a little bit of warmth to return. The light shone through the gaps in the clouds, creating beams of light. "We need Kakashi Hitake and Naruto Uchiha exterminated. I believe you've already been instructed to kill the nine-tails jinjuriki, but he will be dead long before you can reach him." Danzo turned and gave Sasuke an intimidating smile. "I need you to infiltrate the Leaf and kill Kakashi Hitake. I sense that if you pretend to have seen the error in your ways they will welcome you back with open arms."

Even Sasuke was confused by Danzo's proposal. Why would he go through so much effort to gain power, only to have his authority comprised by allowing Sasuke to run rampant? And more importantly, why was he trying to kill two of his own shinobi, and two very skilled ones at that?

Danzo must have noticed Sasuke's confused expression as he began to chuckle. "You don't know what our purpose is, do you? What the true goal of the Anbu Black Ops is?"

"You guys serve to collect Intel for the Leaf village," Sasuke answered flatly. He didn't put much thought into the depth of the situation.

Danzo gave a deep laugh this time. The twisted look on his face reflected deep madness, something not typical of Danzo. "The Black Ops' main goal, first and foremost, is to maintain ninja warfare." Surprise bolted on to Sasuke's face. "By keeping the ninja world at war with itself, we can manipulate things behind the scenes by supplying false information, or by changing important details."

"But the Black Ops is loyal to the Leaf," Sasuke objected. "No other village would believe the information you supply to them is true!"

Danzo laughed once more. "You are more naive than you look, aren't you? The Black Ops doesn't belong just to the Leaf. Every village has an intelligence organization, by one name or another, and all of them report to me behind the scenes." Danzo spread his arms and looked up toward the sky in madness. "I have more power at my fingertips than all the kages combined!"

Sasuke was in awe. So this was what was going on behind the scenes while all the villages went about their daily lives, completely oblivious to the fact that they were always being watched behing the scenes. "What is it that you want, exactly? What will you do with this power?"

The smile vanished from Danzo's face. "I'll crush those who have hurt me and doubted me. We will eliminate the tailed beasts, and use that strength to show the world just how powerful we are. No one will dare oppose us so long as I live!"

With that comment, a chakra blade pierced Danzo's torso in a flash. He was no longer speaking to anyone, but rather looking out into empty space. Sasuke stood behind, twisting the chakra blade deeper and deeper into his body. "You claim to be so powerful, and yet you die just as easily as the rest of us."

Danzo winced in pain and spat out a chunk of blood. He hunched over as the pain shot through him like water through a river. He tried to use his sharingan, but Sasuke's positioning kept him from turning to face him. "But… how?" he asked through gasps of agony?"

"You fell for my sharingan, Danzo. And now that you've spilled all your secrets to me, I'm afraid I've got not reason to keep you alive." Sasuke shot a second chakra blade through Danzo, releasing another gasp of pain

Danzo gave Sasuke a bloody smile, and somehow managed to speak. "I haven't told you everything. The Black Ops will continue on, even without me. Our plans will be realized! Even now, the nine-tails is in danger. He will be dead long before the Akatsuki can reach him."

Sasuke gasped, not sure what Danzo was referencing. "What do you mean, who are you talking about?"

Danzo gave Sasuke one last bloody smile before falling still. Sasuke, quickly verifying that this wasn't another genjutsu, realized he was in his own state of mine. He had, in fact, successfully killed Danzo. Now he found himself searching for answers, not sure what Danzo meant, or what to do about what he said.

His momentarily inaction didn't last long, however. As Danzo had fallen to the ground, dead among the ruins, someone had been watching. She couldn't believe what she had been seeing and began to tear up. There, standing not too far away from Sasuke, was none other than Sakura Haruno, his former teammate.

Sakura's sadness quickly turned to rage as she saw the coldness and lack of remorse on Sasuke's face. Danzo's death didn't even seem to faze him. "I've had enough…" Sakura began under her breath. A fierceness came across her face as she began to speak far louder. "…I've had enough of you!" She shouted as she charged in with her taijutsu. He evaded the attack, but when he turned around he saw someone was behind him as well. Naruto Uchiha blocked his path as he tried to dodge Sakura's onslaught.

Sensing the urgency of the situation, Sasuke quickly back flipped into the air, getting enough height to soar above Naruto. Naruto cast his shadow clone jutsu to surround Sasuke with shadow clones, but Sasuke just tore through them with his sword. He then attempted to get Naruto under the influence of his genjutsu, turning and facing the real Naruto and making eye contact. Naruto was briefly immobilized, though he was able to escape the genjutsu thanks to Jiraya's teachings.

However, Sasuke knew Naruto had this ability and used the brief moment as an opportunity to escape. Off in the distance, Sakura had lost track of the two ex-teammates and was vainly trying to pursue them. Sensing a chance to strike a dagger in his opponent's heart, Sasuke summoned his Susanoo, using it to block Sakura's path. Sasuke quickly charged in from the rear, readying a lightning blade. The blade pierced through the object blocking its path, causing deadly damage.

But the object Sasuke struck was not Sakura. Instead, a wooden wall, one which had not been there previously, obstructed him. Sasuke turned to see Yamoto and Kakashi standing high above him on a nearby cliff, looking down at them. Sasuke became enraged at the sight of them. They would make things far trickier for him. It didn't matter though, with his new power he could probably take them all anyway.

He began to climb the cliff toward the two men. He nimbly worked his way up, making sure to stay alert for any wood style traps Yamoto might spring on him. As he worked his way up though, he noticed that someone was following along off to his side. The man was wearing a signature orange mask and Akatsuki robes. The man who called himself Madara was paralleling Sasuke up the cliff. "This isn't the time Sasuke," he called, not pausing as he spoke. "In your weakened state from fighting Danzo you can't beat them."

Despite it's legitimacy, Sasuke looked put off by this comment. "I'll never back down from those who get in my way! I'll crush anyone in my path!" An angry, yet twisted look flashed across Sasuke's face as he spoke. Something seemed off about him, like he wasn't his cool usual self. Perhaps it had something to do with his encounter with Danzo. "You can tell me to stop all you want, I'm going to kill them either way!"

Madara seemed rather unmoved by Sasuke. "I know," he said flatly. And with that his eye lit up as he opened a portal from it, pulling Sasuke into the void. He followed in behind him as the portal closed, swallowing up his body fraction by fraction. In just a matter of moments it was as if the two were never there.

Yamoto looked down anticlimactically as he realized they weren't coming back. "What sort of jutsu is that? He asked Kakashi. Yamoto was beginning to worry about the skill of their opponent. It seemed that Madara had abilities that no one had ever seen or heard of before.

"I don't know," Kakashi replied. He seemed weary. With everything that had happened, it was hardly a surprise that he was a little over-spent.

"Well one things for sure…" Yamoto began, looking over at Kakashi with concern.

"Yes, it is clear that Sasuke meant to kill Sakura to get to Naruto," Kakashi confirmed. "He attacked her with deadly force while she was unaware of her presence. If we hadn't arrived in time, Sakura would be dead right now."

The two reunited with Naruto and Sakura down in the ruins. Both were still a little shaken from their encounter with Sasuke. It seemed that his intention to kill them took them by surprise, especially Sakura. "He seemed a little warn down," Kakashi commented as they were readying to leave. "I wonder why."

Naruto gave Kakashi a serious stare. His face was suddenly grave and solemn. Naruto glance turned toward the ground off in to the distance, and suddenly Kakashi realized in horror why he was so serious. There, off in the distance, was the corpse of Danzo.

…

(Several weeks after returning home) "You can't be serious Kakashi sensei!" Naruto was desperate. He knew at some point it would come to this, given everything that had happened. Still, to say it wasn't what he wanted would've been an understatement. "I don't want to go."

"It isn't safe for you here," the hokage stated firmly. "Given everything that's happened, we believe that there is a great deal of danger in letting you fight in the war. If you should fall in battle…" Kakashi paused. Considering what might happen in such a scenario was too horrifying to imagine. "…You will train with the eight-tails jinjuriki from the Cloud. His name is B. You can learn a lot from him Naruto, maybe he can teach you to control the fox spirit!"

This thought hardly calmed Naruto at all. He was completely frustrated with the situation. "If you think I'm going to sit back and let other people die while I'm relaxing away from the action, you've got another thing coming!"

"Naruto, it'll be a good learning experience," Kakashi countered. B has completely mastered his jinjuriki abilities, there's a lot he could teach you." Kakashi's expression hardened. "On the other hand, if the Akatsuki get their hands on the nine-tails, we've got no chance of winning. We need to keep you safe if we're going to win this war."

Naruto growled in frustration. Kakashi had too many points for Naruto to argue any more, but the thought if sitting back and going somewhere safe still upset him.

"On the plus side, you won't be going alone Naruto!" Yamoto entered the room, and had an unusually positive aura about him. "I've agreed to go to the Land of Lightning with you to help keep you safe, along with a couple of select guards. We'll be putting up barricades so that the Akatsuki can't reach you there."

Naruto was still very upset, but at least Yamoto was coming along. For some reason, Naruto felt like he could completely trust him no matter what. He felt a lot safer having him around.

…

(A few days later) B arrived in the Leaf just a few days after Naruto finally consented to going. After meeting with Naruto, the two would head to the port along with a few select guards and companions to sail to the Land of Lightning. They would be heading to a remote location no one knew about, save for the elder of the villages.

"How do you do, pleased to meet you," B rhymed. "The call me the octopus guy, but I sure can't fly. But if you ever need a hand, I am certainly you're man! Weeee!"

Naruto decided against pointing out that his last verse didn't rhyme, or asking why he added 'Weeee' at the end. "Naruto Uzumaki, pleased to meet you."

B surveyed him up and down as if he was studying him for something. "What's your favourite color, Naruto?"

Naurot seemed confused. "Uhh… yellow I guess?"

B smiled at his response. "Mine too, and that makes us a crew," He rhymed. "As long as you like my rhyme, the two of us will get along just fine!"

Naruto again resisted the urge to correct his rhyme, and extended his arm. B bumped his fist, looking pleased. This had to be the weirdest introduction Naruto had ever had.

Naruto was pleasantly surprised when he discovered Might Guy was among the guards Yamoto had selected to accompany them. "Kakashi and I agrees that we can better compete with each other if we have separate missions!" Guy had said. "Whoever does a better job with their mission is the superior man!" On second thought, maybe a little bit of Guy went a long way.

Aoba had also been selected to accompany them. He was a bit softer spoken than Guy, but he was good at what he did. "I'll give my life to defend you, Naruto," he said. So at least Naruto didn't have to worry about being well protected enough.

Sakura had come to see Naruto off at the port. When it was time to leave, she gave him a container of her famous food pills for the road. Naruto would wait until they were safely out of sight before he threw them overboard. "I'm going to make sure I bring back Sasuke, I promise." She smiled at him and hugged him. "Try not to worry too much, okay?"

Naruto managed a smile. It was going to be tough leaving everyone else to fight this war, but at least he knew Sakura would help heal them and keep them safe. "I'm counting on you Sakura, bring those Akatsuki down!" And with that, he boarded the ship. He stood near the edge and watched as everyone boarded. He saw that B was carrying on some sort of odd looking sword. After a moment, Naruto realized it was Samehada.

B saw Naruto's panicked expression, and tried to reassure him. "Don't worry, I won it when I killed that Akatsuki," he said. "It betrayed him, and now it's loyal to me!"

As land sailed away, Naruto waved goodbye to his friends, watching as the coast faded away into the distance. He felt hopeful about the war. Maybe there really was a chance that they could win this thing. Still, he kept peering over at Samehada. Something didn't feel right to him. He got a bad feeling looking at the sword, as they sailed away into the isolated open ocean.

…

(About two months later) Naruto would have reached the Land of Lightning by now. He was gone where she could no longer defend him. Hinata sighed. She always worried for Naruto, though she never said so. This was just like when he went off with Jiraya for all that time. She had thought about him every day without fail, hoping he would make it back safely. When he did return, Hinata was so excited she nearly tackled him when she saw him. Was that really almost a year ago?

Time passes without care. The once young ninja of the Leaf were now nearly fully grown shinobi. Things had changed so much since Hinata had first met Naruto all those years ago. She had changed so much. Hinata laughed a little. She remembered that clueless girl who went to such great lengths to impress Naruto.

It never had made any difference though. Hinata knew who Naruto really had feelings for, back then and everyday since. Much as Hinata had done for him, Naruto went to great lengths to try to impress Sakura. He had said once that he would do anything for her. Naruto had always loved her.

Hinata wished she could be stronger. She wished that she could have gone with Naruto to protect him. Alas, she had different mission. It was alright though. If she did her best, just like Naruto had always told her to do, they could win the war. And if they did that, she could make sure Naruto was safe.

She got up and looked around her room. She had prepared a bag already, filled with provisions for the trip. Normally she didn't bother, but she suspected they would be gone longer than they had been on any other mission. She took one last walk over to her window, staring out of it into the village below. It was still relatively early, but the sun was just high enough to illuminate the faces of all the hokages. They had just completed one for Kakashi. The village was so peaceful this early, with no one out to enjoy the sight of the shadow lifting. All the bright oranges of the sunrise were quite a sight.

A knock came on her door. "Hinata, are you coming or what?" Tenten opened the door and noticed the bag on the bed. "Everyone's ready whenever you are."

It was time to be strong for Naruto, Maybe if she showed him how strong she could be, he would come around. She grabbed her bag and turned toward Tenten. "I'm ready. Let's go!"

…

"I don't understand!" Sasuke paced the Akatsuki headquarters, completely frustrated by the turn of events. "Why didn't you let me finish them?" he asked Madara. "Now they've gone off to an island loaded with protective barriers. We'll never be able to reach him there!"

Madara seemed completely calm, as per usual. "Who says it's completely secure? As it happens, we've already infiltrated it.

Sasuke gasped and looked on Madara with interest. Was this even possible? "How could this be?"

"Kisame has infiltrated their location by concealing himself within Samehada," Madara assured. "They have no idea of his presence. I expect he will send us some Intel shortly?"

Sasuke was unconvinced. "So you'll have Kisame take on Naruto, along with everyone protected him, by himself?"

Madara laughed. "You'd be wise not to underestimate Kisame. He's more than capable of taking all of them on without any help." He paused for a moment, giving Sasuke an analyzing glance. "As it happens, I don't expect him to succeed. My main purpose of sending him was to gather important Intel on our enemy's movements."

Our enemies? Sasuke had no interest in this war. This was just a means to an end, and that end was his vengeance against the Leaf. Still, if he was to have his chance at revenge, he was going to need the Akatsuki's war as a distraction. "What will we do to get the tailed beast spirits then?"

A sinister grin crossed Madara's face from beneath his mask. "I'm glad you asked. I think you'll be quite pleased with this idea Sasuke." He crossed the chamber and walk over to the table Sasuke was sitting at, pulling up a chair across from him. "I seem to have discovered a weakness of Naruto's. And I think we can exploit it to get him to throw caution to the wind."

Sasuke laughed. "Naruto always does that. Whatever your idea is, it won't work. Even if he did lose his cool, the guards he has with him would never let him leave."

Madara still smiled. It seemed he still was not lacking in confidence. "Ask yourself, what one thing would make Naruto lose control? What one person would he do anything for?"

Sasuke gasped as he suddenly realized what Madara meant. Would something so simple, so obvious, really work? "What should we do?"

Madara gave a pleased grunt, seeing that Sasuke was now on-board. "First, we need to find Sakura."

…

Had it been a dream or was it real? Naruto had seen his mother's face for the first time that he could remember. He even talked to her. How could this be possible? She was dead, and Naruto knew that fully well. Yet, she had been there, and he could even remember the conversation they had. She had told him to be strong and keep following his heart.

"It wasn't a dream," B's voice was muffled by the crashing waterfall. Naruto quit meditating and emerged from underneath the water. B was looking at him, arms crossed. He had been more serious than normal since he began training Naruto. It was almost as if he wanted to make sure Naruto learned from his jinjuriki teachings. "The woman you saw came from a distant memory, brought to life through the mind of the nine-tails."

"Wait so does that mean…" Naruto couldn't believe it. Gaining control over a powerful demon who had tormented him his entire life didn't even seem possible.

"Yes, you have made peace with the fox spirit. Now you two are truly a team once again." B paused and walked closer to him. He looked super serious. At least, he did until he started randomly breaking into dance again. "And now it this late hour, it's time for you to feel the power! Yeah!"

Naruto was completely put off by B's raps. It seemed he hadn't changed at all after all. Still, he took his advice and searched his inner mind for the fox spirit. When he did, he successfully convinced it to help him, and went into shadow cloak form. "Now, let your feelings become one!" came B's voice. "You gotta let it see what you see." Naruto followed his advice, and let his vision be shared with the fox spirit. He saw energy coming out of everything, especially B. Everything radiated energy in hundreds of shades of colors. It was the most amazing thing Naruto had ever seen.

Naruto noticed something. Coming out of B's sword was an unusual amount of energy. He took a closer look, and noticed that two different energies were radiating out of the sword, one slightly different in color than the other. "B something's inside your sword!" he shouted. But before B could turn around, a figure came out of the sword through a dark aura of energy. The man stood in front of them, wearing an Akatsuki uniform and wielding samehada. "I guess I've been discovered…" came his voice.

The man looked familiar to Naruto. He felt he had seen him before, but it had been a long time ago. Slowly, it started to come back to him. He remembered seeing to shadowy figures entering the Leaf. The first time he had ever seen or hear of the Akatsuki resurfaced. The two men had been looking for Naruto, and for someone else. Who had they been looking for?

Suddenly he remembered. "You're Itachi's partner!"

"Was," Kisame corrected. "Itachi is now dead, I suppose you have your body Sasuke to thank for that." He gave him a grin that gave the impression he was hiding something. "I half expected this reunion to be more… exciting. Still, here I stand before the last two jinjurki of tailed beasts."

B gave him a fierce look. "You won't be capturing us today Akatsuki." B pointed at him and began to dance. "Don't think you can beat me in another dance off! I've been practicing!"

Kisame gave him a mischievous smile. "You don't stand a chance against me. My moves are legendary!" He sheathed Samehada and prepared himself. "I beat you before and I'll beat you again!" He jumped into the air and did an impressive spin move. The Akatsuki started break dancing and wind milling over Samehada.

"That ain't nothing!" B countered. "Check this out!" B began some impressive moves, but their dance off was interrupted when someone came running. They both turned to see a flash of black hair as a man jumped through the air and landed a taijutsu kick to Kisame's core.

"Don't think I don't know who you are Akatsuki!" Might Guy had somehow known Kisame was here and run a great distance to find them at the waterfall. He had that fierce look in his eyes he always had when he fought a rival. "Prepare to meet your fate!"

Kisame looked more amused than intimidated. "So you finally remembered did you?"

"Yes I do!" Guy paused, taken a second to straighten his hair. He flashed an overly bright smile that could make someone go blind. "You're going down, shark man!"

Naruto, B, and Kisame all looked confused. Even Naruto and B, who had encountered Kisame just once each previously, remembered his name. Guy was now about to fight him for the third time, and he still didn't remember. "Well, at least you remembered my power," Kisame scoffed, clearly insulted. "I'll give you a show that will make you remember!"

As Kisame prepared to enter combat, he had a sudden flashback. He recalled his fight with Itachi, a fight which he still wasn't entirely sure actually happened. He remembered what he said: 'If you make a choice, the right choice, you may yet have a future. You may even be able to make a real difference in the world.' For a moment, hesitation flowed through him. However, after a moment he found his resolve and the fight began.

Guy readied for his attack as Kisame charged in with Samehada. He jumped and slashed and Guy, who parried his attack with a taijutsu kick. Kisame followed that with a water style jutsu that imprisoned Guy in a cylinder of water. Unable to escape, Guy activated his eight gates jutsu. Kisame was surprised to see him use such a powerful attack so quickly. It seemed he was trying to end this fight early.

With his power reaching critical levels, Guy was able to use the energy to evaporate the water prism. He then launched himself toward Kisame at high speed and did a taijutsu attack. Kisame mostly dodged the attack, but took a glancing blow. With such a strong attack, Kisme still staggered considerably from the force. Guy steadied himself and turned for another attack.

Kisame knew that he couldn't stand around and keep dodging these powerful taijutsu attacks. He used his water style to flood the waterfall and send the entire area underwater. Naruto and B were force to retreat a safe distance to where they could breathe, thus ensuring this would be a one on one fight.

Guy was once again forced to face the prospect of drowning while his foe could continue to attack him at ease. Kisame seemed to have the upper hand when submerged in water. Guy continued to open the gates, unleashing more power.

Kisame knew what Guy was trying. There was no way he was going to let him evaporate all the water again, just as he had successfully done in the battle with his clone before. Kisame pulled the water away from Guy and used it to form a barrier around him. Guy, no longer in the water, was immobilized as he continued to open the gates. As he opened the sixth gate, Kisame realized that he was done for if any of Guy's attacks hit him at this level of power.

Kisame summoned five sharks using his water release jutsu to help protect him. He then used his water style to send bolts of water at Guy, all of which he was able to parry. Having finally opened the eighth gate, Guy charged at Kisame. He charged through the wall of water and sharks, landing a crushing blow to his target. Kisame fell backward and collapsed on the ground.

Guy, unable to sustain the power any longer, released his technique and returned to normal form. He approached his enemy to finish him off, but found only a body of water. But how? Behind him, Kisame charged at him, launching a powerful attack with Samehada. Guy fell back, and bent over on to his knees in pain. "How did you escape?" he demanded.

Kisame laughed. "Did you really think I would make the same mistakes twice? I used the sharks as a distraction so I could place a water clone while I escaped. After you thought you had won, I got behind you and took the opportunity to hit you." Kisame nodded at Samehada. "Samehada seems to like your chakra too. I'll have to finish you off before that becomes a problem." Kisame fused with Samehada, going into his joint form while once again flooding the area. He charged through the water at Guy, hitting a glancing blow.

Guy was now being pushed to his limit. He had been a fool to use his most powerful jutsu so early against such a skilled foe. With no real chakra left to spare, Guy resorted to his hidden weapon, a long bow staff. He used the length of the staff to create separation from Kisame when he charged. As he moved away, he channelled the last bit of chakra he had into the staff. He twirled the staff with incredible strength, forming an underwater tornado.

Kisame tried to reach guy through the tornado, but the current was too strong for even him to swim through. The tornado began to move, and as it did, Kisame saw that it was rising upward. He swam down toward the bottom of the tornado, and used the current to launch himself up into its core.

Bingo. Guy had gotten Kisame to do exactly as he had wanted. He looked down and readied his staff. As Kisame charged him, he used his charged staff to strike him with a powerful taijutsu. Kisame sank downward toward the depths of the ocean. He got caught in the current, and was forced to endure a series of taijutsu attacks from Guy as he was thrown around in circles.

The tornado dissipated and Guy approached the incapacitated Kisame. At last, it was over. Now he would grab him and interrogate him for Akatsuki Intel. At least this rival he had been able to beat… Or had he?

Several sharks swam at Guy as he was knocked off his feet. They went in, one by one, to feast off of him. As they did, Guy was forced to fight them off with his taijutusu. Now his chakra was completely exhausted, and he was forced to fight off the final shark using sheer force from his staff. When he finally fought them off, Kisame was gone. But how? After Guy landed all those attacks on him, how could the Akatsuki still swim away?

Kisame laughed. "You should check your vision," came his strange underwater voice. "You hit a shark alright, but it wasn't me. It was simply my five hungry sharks, swimming around in the tornado, while I escaped safely. And now you're no longer in condition to fight." He separated from Samehada and drained away the water.

Guy was panting on the ground, completely gassed. As Kisame approached him, it was the most he could do to look up at him. B and Naruto, having been forced to watch the fight from a distance due to the drowning hazard, had closed in and were preparing to target Kisame. He had his sword on Guy's shoulder, in place to make the final blow. "You Akatsuki disgust me," Guy gasped. "How can you throw your life away on such an awful cause? Still, you did beat me, do what you will."

Kisame flashed back yet again to his encounter with Itachi. He considered the situation for a moment. He had all the power in the world. Here he was, in position to kill one of the most powerful ninja from the Leaf. Still, given everything that had happened, there was only one thing he could do. He had made up his mind.

Kisame lowered his sword. He looked down at Guy, who was stunned that he had just been spared. Naruto and B both looked surprised as well. Kisame glanced over at Naruto, who was paralyzed with confusion, and then back to Guy. Then he began to speak. "Someone once asked me the same question you just did now. Someone who was more of a comrade to me than anyone else ever was. He fought with me to the edge of death, trying to convince me to change my path. But no matter what he tried, I never would."

He paused, turning toward Naruto. "The he told me the story of Sasuke, what had truly happened to him. Despite all he had done for him, Itachi knew that Sasuke could never know. He pretended to be the villain so that he could protect his brother. When he transferred these memories to me, he gave me the same kind gesture he had given his brother all those years ago. By touching my forehead, he transferred all of his memories to me so I could see what kind of man he really was. It was so different than what I expected."

Naruto nodded. The exact same thing had been told to him by Madara. If Kisame had heard this directly from Itachi, then it was likely true "I follow my own interests, and that will never change," Kisame continued. "I'll never be one of your 'good guys,' but I know I have a part to play in this war." He paused and shut his eyes for a moment, taking a second to concentrate on his thoughts. "And I believe that role is to defend this world from the tailed beasts."

Silence ensued. To say that it was unexpected for Kisame to betray the Akatsuki, even after learning the truth about Itachi, was an understatement. B looked deep in thought, while Guy was still completely stunned. At some point, Aoba and Yamoto had also come to investigate, as they both were standing there with Naruto and B. Finally, Naruto walked forward and broke the silence. "I believe in second chances…" he began. "I've given so many people another chance to prove themselves, and never once have I regretted it." He extended his hand. "If this is really what you want, I'll support you until the end."

Aoba looked displeased. "The mist will never accept him after everything he's done. We can't expect the Lady to let him help us."

Naruto shook his head in disagreement. "I think she'll accept it. He's not returning to the Mist, he's just helping us stop the tailed beasts. After that I suspect he'll get back to his own interests."

Kisame gave Naruto a sinister smile. "Well, I never was much of a hero. But so long as the war rages, my sword is yours, nine-tails."

Naruto smiled. Any help they could get at this point would make a major difference. With Kisame helping, they might actually be able to stop Madara's awful plan. Things were looking up.

Unfortunately, the good feeling quickly disappeared as quickly as it came. Before Naruto's eyes, Yamoto struck down Aoba, shooting a blast of wood straight through his heart. Aoba collapsed, falling on the ground with blood pouring from his body. Naruto had no idea what to make of this. Aoba must have been a spy. But how did Yamoto know?

Suddenly, both Naruto and B were restrained in wooden barricades, completely unable to move. Yamoto walked up to them and faced them. Something was different about him. Here was a dark complexion on his face as he looked at them, almost as if Naruto had done something awful. "What's wrong Yamoto?" asked Naruto. "We're not spies, we're the real deal."

"Who ever said anything about spies?" Yamoto looked at them with a completely emotionless face, one that reminded Naruto of Sai. "Your retention will be for the good of the ninja world. You have become too dangerous to be left unchecked Naruto."

Kisame, the only one who was unrestrained and uninjured, looked at Yamoto with interest. So this guy was going to try to cross Naruto, huh? Things just got quite interesting indeed. Samehada had never tasted wood style before…

"What do you mean Yamoto?" asked Naruto desperately. "We're on your side, we want the tailed beasts stopped!"

Yamoto gave an unusually dark laugh. He seemed completely out of character. "You really think I want what you want? To never give up and save the world? That's cute, but it's not realistic. The tailed spirits are too dangerous to be entrusted to a jinjuriki. They need to be permanently locked away. And the only way to do that, is to seal them."

Naruto was now full of rage. Yamoto was talking like he had never cared for Naruto, and he just saw him as a menace. He had been a fake all along. "So you lied to us?" Naruto was getting so angry he had to repress the fox's energy to avoid a transformation. "You told us all those things, pretended to care about us, just to gain our trust? If not the Leaf, who is it you're working for?"

Yamoto laughed again. "My loyalties lie in the same place they always have. They lie in the best interests of the ninja world. In the Anbu Black Ops." Everyone gasped at this. So Yamoto had never really left the Anbu Black ops after all.

"You see, before Danzo died, he knew Sasuke would come after him," Yamoto continued. "He knew full well that there was a chance he might fall to him. So he made me his replacement, to take over when he died. He wanted to see you both killed and your spirits cealed so tht the ten tails could never return."

Naruto gasped. Having seen Danzo's corpse, he knew that he had indeed fallen to Sasuke. That meant, that he was now face to face with the leader of the Anbu Blck Ops. "I had different intentions however. Madara offered me a deal too good to pass up. When he controls the world, he will use the Black Ops to enforce world peace. We will be there to make sure that the world never again fights among itself. We will be peacekeepers."

This made B, Guy and Naruto sick. Yamoto had pretended to be their comrade, their friend, only to buy in to Madara's corrupted dream for world peace. Yamoto pressed on. "In order to realize this dream, we need to capture all the tailed beasts, and summon the ten tails. And I have the final two in front of me now."

As he moved towards Naruto and B, Kisame blocked his advance with Samehada. "Ahh, I forgot to mention the very reason Madara recruited the Black Ops," Yamoto said. "You see, he knew you were strong Kisame. He didn't doubt your loyalties, he trusted you completely. But he wanted a backup plan in case you were killed in combat. I guess he was wrong to trust you. But don't worry, you'll get your chance to die."

Kisame laughed. "Idiots like you are the very reason I wavered," he countered. "An emotionless pile of bones like you doesn't feel pain, does it? Pity, I would've enjoyed watching you suffer." Kisame head-butted Yamoto, sending him flying backward. The two proceeded to fight, but Kisame was no match for him in his fatigued state. Yamoto cornered him, preparing to make the final blow.

"You never should have betrayed us," Yamoto said. "At least then you could've died with your dignity." He prepared to strike him with his wood style, but just before he could, he upended from behind.

Might Guy had somehow found the strength to make it over to Yamoto strike him.  
Guy could barely move, but he had just enough strength left to use his staff to strike down Yamoto, and break the wooden barriers trapping Naruto and B. Thanks to the distraction Kisame was able to turn the tables on Yamoto and get him on his last leg. "I suppose I should ask you what your last request is, but I know I won't like it," Kisame scoffed before lowering Samehada. A stream of blood ran into the pool of the waterfall and down the creek, staining the water red. Just before he died, Yamoto create a message in a wooden panel with his jutsu and sent it off somewhere. With one lass emotionless face he mouthed the words 'It's too late' but before all life energy left him.

As Naruto recovered from his captivity and rose back up on his feet, he look down at Yamoto's body. He saw the corpse of a man he thought he knew. A hardworking teacher, a brilliant strategist, and surprisingly generous man. A loyal companion, and a fierce friend. But just like what remained of Yamoto, all those memories were washing away just like blood running down a river…

…


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6- The Dawn of War

 _NOTES: So there's your big twist, I hope you liked it. Wasn't much in the way of betrayal in the anime, so thought I'd fix that. I'll be skipping a lot of the part between the encounter with Kisame and the war, sorry I just don't find it that important. Anyway, plenty more epic fights to come!_

The preparations were complete. It had taken a great deal of effort, but the girl had finally been captured. Kabuto was quite pleased with himself. This had been one of his best performances yet. He glanced round at the other Akatsuki members. They had come in person this time, as the stage was finally set for war. His reanimations of Deidera, Sasori, Itachi, and Kakuzu had joined in, prepared to follow the orders their master gave them. They had minds of their own, but their wills were completely broken.

"Where in the world is Hidan?" asked Zombie Deidera. "Surely an immoral would be of some use in battle?" Deidera looked around, making sure he wasn't missing something.

"It seems that Hidan still exists somewhere," Kakuzu observed. "Whether he remains of any use to us is a completely different question." It was true, Hidan had been trapped in the woods by the Leaf shinobi Shikamaru. Whether or not he died of starvation was completely unknown, but even if he hadn't, he was of little use to the Akatsuki at this time.

"Are the Black Ops forces ready?" Madara asked, turning to Pein.

"All good to go," Pein replied. "Will I be leading them then?"

Madara nodded in confirmation. "We'll have you and Konan lead the Black Ops unit, while I have instructed Zetsu to lead the army of his clones." Madara turned to Kabuto. "Will they be prepared to fight?" He glanced over at the reanimated Akatsuki.

Kabuto gave Madara a sinister smile. "Yes, they will be. You want them for that mission you told me about earlier I presume?"

Again Madara nodded. He glanced up at their captive. Her red hair contrasted with the dark cave they had gathered in as she sat there, trapped in a cage hanging above the group. "Don't worry little girl, Sasuke will be back soon to protect you," Sasori mocked. It seemed he had long forgotten that he purposely threw the fight to Sakura so that he could be killed by the elder of the sand he had always pretended to despise. He was disappointed with her reaction though as she just continued to sit there in deep thought.

"Hatching an escape attempt I presume." Sasori's comment caused a light round of laughter from the room. "It's no matter, she isn't going anywhere."

"The question is, will the nine-tails take the bait?" Itachi questioned. "Don't underestimate Naruto or you may end up regretting it."

"I think he will," Madara assured. He proceeded to send a shock toward Sakura's cage, jolting her just enough to cause pain but not inflict any major damage. Sakura screamed at them in agony.

"You're despicable, all of you! How can you forsake the world's only hope for peace just so that you can exert your control?"

Madara laughed. "Stupid girl. We ARE creating peace, just not the kind you had envisioned. You see, what you had imagined is nothing more than a fairy tale, completely impossible to achieve in real life."

Sakura got so angry her face turned red. In desperation, she called to Sasuke. "Sasuke how can you let them do this? We're your friends!" She began to tear up, causing herself to choke on her sobs as she tried to force out more words. "Sasuke please, help me!"

Sasuke turned one eye toward her, and Sakura was alarmed to see that is was filled with rage. "Shut up, or I'll kill you," he said threateningly.

Madara laughed and simply shook his head. "Now, now Sasuke, you know we need to use her as bait before you can kill her. You'll get your chance." He turned back to the others. "We will need to send someone out to deliver the message." He turned to Kabuto. "Send Itachi to find Naruto; that should pique his interest enough to draw him here."

Kabuto looked dismayed at that request, but gave the order anyway. Itachi was to send one of his raven clones to give Naruto the news. When he came after them to rescue Sakura, they would be waiting to ambush him. "We can only spare a few men to wait for him," Madara added. "Everyone else will have to help the war effort." He turned to Sasuke. "I know you have no great desire to fight in this battle. I'll leave you here along with Kabuto to deal with Nartuo."

Sasuke looked unimpressed, but consented nonetheless. "So be it."

Kabuto looked annoyed. "What about the matter we discussed?" he asked Madara. Doubtlessly, Naruto won't come alone. He would be a fool to do so. We need more man power." He paused for a second. "We need Orochimaru."

This created a great deal of dissent among the group. Orochimaru had been an Akatsuki once, but he had betrayed that cause with his psychopathic tendencies. None of them had a great love for Orochimaru, and it was safe to say they didn't particularly care to see him return.

Madara simply laughed this tension off. With a wave of his hand, he had everyone's attention once more. "Orochimaru will return when the sun fails to set. He will be as much of a burden to our cause as he was then. It's not in our best interests. Now, is the Zetsu army ready?"

"It is," Pein replied. "Although, I can't say if they will be strong enough to defeat our enemy."

"They'll do the task well if they have the right leader," the original Zetsu countered. "And besides, I can make nearly an unlimited amount of clones."

Madara turned to Pein. "Only you can lead this army. With the amount of power you possess, the Allied Shinobi forces will be so petrified they might turn and run. Send forth all the Peins and we will win this war."

It was true. With his powers, Pein could hold together any army on the battlefield and force them to fight until the death. Not to mention that he was known to the Leaf as the man who killed the fifth hokage, which would no doubt strike fear into their hearts. And of course, he could hold his own in battle too. "Very well, I shall lead them," he replied. A brief flash of confusion crossed his face. "But what about you? Why won't you lead them?"

A sly smirk crossed Madara's face. "There is a different task that demands my attention." He nodded at the group. "Let's not waste any more time. Our enemy is waiting for us." He opened the entrance to their hideout revealing the light of day. The sun was just beginning to rise in the sky. It was stained blood red, making the clouds in the sky look like streaks of blood. The Zetsu army appeared before them and begin to walk outside. "To battle then!" Madara cried as everyone began to file out.

Eventually, only Sasuke and Kabuto remained behind. They stood in silence for a while, with neither seeing the need to break the pre-war silence. After some time, Kabuto straightened his glasses and began to walk away. After taking a few steps, however, he paused. "Well are you coming or what?" he asked. When he saw Sasuke's confused look, he rolled his eyes. "I mean to resurrect Orochimaru of course, what else would I be talking about?"

…

(Earlier) Sakura looked into her vanity, seeing a reflection of herself. Where had all her youth gone? She saw a nearly fully grown woman staring back at her. Of course, her war tunic certainly made her look older too. It looked very similar to a shinobi uniform, but with extra protection. The green tunic was laced with a thick layer of leather, with reinforcements at the joints to prevent penetration by shuriken.

Sakura could hardly believe she was going to war. It seemed like just yesterday that she was still on a team with Naruto and Sasuke. Back then the third Hokage was still alive, and war was the furthest thing from her mind. All she ever thought about was…

Ah yes, Sasuke. Her obsession with him seemed childish to her now. Still, those feelings weren't exactly dead either. Rather they had matured into something else. She saw him everywhere she went, wishing just for once it would really be him. She would give anything to speak with him, to try and talk some sense into him and bring him home. Even now, she saw him out her window, but it wasn't real.

At least, that's what she thought. Something seemed different this time though, the reflection was a clear image of Sasuke, with none of the exaggerations that often plagued her imagination. She heard a knock on her window. It couldn't be though, there's no way an illusion could make a noise. Another nock came. Sakura began to wonder if she was going insane. She shouldn't be imagining noises like this. Yet another knock.

Finally at wits end, Sakura gave in and opened the window. When she saw Sasuke sitting there staring at her she reached out with her hand. She was shocked to find that her hand ran into a sold object. She moved her had up and down his arm and felt the warmth of human flesh. This was no hallucination.

"I wondered when you might finally let me in," Sasuke said coolly. He gave her an unnatural smile. "I missed you Sakura."

"Don't pretend!" Sakura yelled. "You could care less about me and you know it! All you've ever cared about is revenge. Revenge on your brother, revenge on the Leaf, and now revenge on your own team!" Sakura crossed her arms and turned her back to him. "I have nothing to say to you."

"Don't you though?" Sasuke gave her a twisted smile. "After all this time, I thought you'd have tons of questions for me." He looked at her suspiciously. "I think you might be lying to yourself."

Sakura recognized these as the same words Naruto had said to her when she came to confess her love to him. A flash of anger crossed her face. "Don't act like you know me! You abandoned us, you tried to kill Naruto." She paused as she turned to face Sasuke. Her eyes were full of pure rage. "I have just one question for you…"

In a flash Sakura crossed the room and held a knife to Sasuke's neck. She had him pinned to the edge of the window to prevent his escape. "Do you have any last requests before I kill you?"

Sasuke gave a twisted laugh. Something seemed off about him, almost as though he was starting to lose his sanity. "You don't have the stomach for it Sakura. You and I both know you love me."

"I do," Sakura admitted. "I always have." She poked the knife against his neck, drawing a shallow stream of blood. "And there's only one way to put those feelings to bed, once and for all!"

"Then do it." Sasuke seemed unusually calm for someone whose life was mere inches from reaching its end. "I won't stop you."

Sakura's arm shook as she tried to will herself to do the deed. She felt her entire body begin to ache. She kept trying to cut his throat, but her arm would not move. Her resolve began to erode little by little. She broke down into sobs as her entire body trembled like a poorly constructed building during an earthquake.

"Why Sasuke?" She asked between her sobs. "Why are you making me do this to you? Come back home where you belong. I'll protect you no matter what happens." She cried herself to the point where she had begun to choke up.

For the first time ever, Sasuke gave her an affectionate look, one resembling some sort of sympathy. "Everything I've done, I've done for you." And with that Sasuke deformed into a Zetsu clone. With a jolt, Sakura realized what was happening, but it was too late. The Zetsu clones multiplied and surrounded her. She tried to fight her way out, but there were too many of them. Behind the clones she saw Kabuto, glancing at her with a wicked smile. "My dear, you really ought to get a handle on your attachment to Sasuke. You've made this far too easy."

Sakura had made herself completely vulnerable, and with her inability to breathe correctly she was no match for the large group of Zetsus. They closed in on her, blocking out the light from the room. Everything turned black as she felt he arms and legs bounded by the Zetsus. Kabuto's voice came from the darkness. "Take her to the hideout. She'll be the perfect bait for the nine-tails." She felt a blow to her head and with that everything went blank.

…

The mighty lord Raikage stared across a steep ravine. The Akastuki had gathered their forces on the other side, but they were waiting for something. A was quite suspicious of them, and rightfully so. It had been discovered that the Akatsuki had captured one of the Leaf's medical ninja and taken them hostage. She was likely being questioned, tortured, or both at that very moment.

The Akatsuki made A sick. They would stop at nothing to get what they wanted, even capturing a girl far too young to fight in a war. That's the way A thought about it anyway The Leaf seemed desperate for man power, so they were using seventeen year old kids to help them fight in the battle. They didn't even seem to mind that their superiors were sending them to battle before they were ready for it, rather they seemed to welcome the opportunity to fight. Despite his reservations on whether they could truly be a match for the Akastuki, A respected them for fighting in what they believe in.

The heat of the day was briefly broken by a swift breeze blowing through the barren land. There were no trees to speak of here, just rocky wilderness covered in short grass. A had prepared his forces to engage the enemy should they show any signs of movement. It was in these moments, at the edge of battle, that one found often found themselves in deep thought.

He remembered an earlier conversation with Tsunade before she died. She had come to visit the Cloud to reach a new trading agreement. A was sitting in his chambers when she was escorted in. "Been waiting a long time Tsunade, began to wonder if you would ever show up!"

"I'm good for my word, I assure you." A waved away the escort, leaving just the two of them in the room. Tsunade took a seat on the floor across the table from A. "We're not your enemies lord Raikage, I trust you know that. It's time we had a more open trade agreement."

A scoffed. "Of all the things you could worry about why care about something so pointless." He glanced out a window, and saw B training off in the distance. For someone with so many other priorities, B sure did seem to train hard when he finally got around to it. "I worry about the state of things, lord Hokage. Orochimaru has completely disappeared with your rogue shinobi for more than a year now, and I have been hearing rumours about a secret organization lurking beneath the shadows."

Tsunade nodded. "Yes, the Akatsuki they call themselves. We had two of them visit our village a year ago looking for Naruto. It seems they are after the jijuriki. As to why, we haven't the slightest idea."

Concern flooded A's face. "I worry for my brother He is a strong shinobi, but he has certain… focusing issues." For a moment, he glanced at B again. It seemed he had merged with the eight-tails and was trying to do some sort of dance. He turned back to Tsunade. "What about the nine-tails? Is he being kept secure? Whatever they want these tailed beasts for, it can't be good."

Tsunade hesitated for a moment, debating whether or not to tell the Raikage the truth. "He's gone off with my old childhood teammate Jiraya the toad sage to train."

Rage filled A's face. "You trust a kid to go out on his own like that? This is a serious matter Tsunade! He's no match for the Akatsuki!"

Tsunadeburst out laughing. After she gathered herself, she attempted to respond. "You should put more faith in them," she said with a smile. "Especially Naruto. It might surprise you to see what he's really capable of."

A gave an annoyed smirk. "That's all fine and well, but he isn't even around for me to ask now is he?"

"He isn't, but you had better believe that he wouldn't hesitate to engage the Akatsuki given the chance. He's a little stubborn that way. Not unlike someone else I know." She gave A a sideways glance as she said that.

A seemed a little taken back. Perhaps deep down he knew he really was as stubborn as Naruto, but he kept that to himself. "I don't suppose you have any tangible results to show me? After all, I'm sure you have been preparing them to defend themselves from the Akatsuki?"

"My apprentice did bring you something." She turned toward the doorway. A followed her glance and was surprised to see the figure of a girl with pink hair looking back at him. She was wearing a Leaf headband, signifying her position as a shinobi. "Go ahead and bring it forward, Sakura."

Sakura walked forward carrying some sort of package. She handed it to A, who promptly opened it to the point that it was almost rude. Inside he saw several vials. Upon further inspection, he saw that they were all full of healing compounds and medicine. "It's full of medicines made from scratch," Tsunade explained. Sakura has become one of the top medical ninja in our village."

A gave a mocking laugh. "So she can create great medicines. I'm supposed to be impressed? You're the same as always Tsunade, always training weaklings."

In a flash, an object moved towards A, striking him with great force. A fell backwards on to the floor, clutching the location in his core where he had been punched. Sakura stood above him, panting. Her fists were completed engulfed in swirling chakra. The fierce look in her eyes was enough to turn away the mightiest of foes. She looked down at the Raikage. "Don't you ever insult our Hokage again." And with that she turned and walked out of the room without saying another word.

Tsunade began to follow her, but she paused as she was about to exit the room. She turned to A, still immobilized on the floor. "Let that be a lesson to you not to underestimate Leaf shinobi. Don't forget it."

And he never did. Even now, staring down at his enemy, he remembered the lesson he had learned that day. With all the strength that girl had in her, A had no doubt that she would do everything she could to survive. They just had to get to her before it was too late.

"My lord Raikage!" a scout shouted as he approached. "A member of the Akatsuki is approaching!"

A raised his eyebrows. An ambassador perhaps? Maybe they saw the number of shinobi assembled and decided fighting would not be wise? He turned to see a man, his head covered by a cloak. "And who might you be?"

The man pulled his hood back, revealing a mask with one hole large enough to reveal his sharingan in his eye. "You asked for war, lord Raikage, and now it is on your doorsteps. You could've avoided all of this if you just gave up your pride and let us bring the world peace. I trust you know that."

A pulled out a hidden blade from a sheath and pointed it at Madara. "Give me one reason I shouldn't have you killed right now?" A moment of silence ensued, with Madara giving a daring glance, trying to bait him in to pulling the trigger. A lunged at Madara, but his knife went straight through his body as if it wasn't even there. A yelled out in frustration. "What is it that you want?" he hissed. "You must have some purpose for coming here."

Madara smiled. It appeared that the chance he had been waiting for had come at long last. "I seek a man named Kakashi Hitake. I believe he is now Hokage of the Leaf Village."

A looked at him with a mix of suspicion and intrigue. What could an Akatsuki member want with the leader of the Leaf? Perhaps to assassinate him in hopes of dividing the forces of his enemies? Something seemed off here though. It almost seemed like his intentions weren't even malicious. "What do you want with lord Kakashi?"

"Kakashi and I go way back, he just doesn't remember quite yet." Madara looked at the forces around him. The tension was quickly reaching a breaking point. All the shinobi seemed full of anticipation. "This war will decide the fate of the ninja world as we know it. But we have another battle to decide. Tell him to seek me out on the battlefield. When he arrives, he will understand."

A was unimpressed. "And if I should refuse this request?"

A dark aura surrounded him as Madara gave A a sinister smile. "Then I will kill the girl."

…

(Some time later) War had long since begun and the Allied Shinobi Forces had broken up in to several small groups in pursuit of several different goals. The team of Rock Lee, Neiji, Ten-Ten, and Hinata had been assigned to capture the original Zetsu clone so as to prevent the Akatsuki from rebuilding their army. If possible, they were to gather any Intel they could on Sakura's present location as well.

"You all really should try to keep up," Lee shouted back at them. "The faster we go, the more in shape we will be for our fight against the Akatsui!"

"Or the more tired," Ten-Ten argued. "We can't fight the Akatsuki if we fall over from exhaustion first."

"Negative, it's just a warm up!" Lee cheered. "We will be so pumped for the fight that the Akatsuki won't dare stand in our way!"

Ten-Ten was quickly getting annoyed with Lee's excessive fighting spirit, as usual. The frustration on her face was quickly become evident. "Lee I swear sometimes…" She was unable to finish though. As they were moving through a narrow canyon, a paper bomb went off, sending down a rockslide. More paper bombs went off around the canyon in succession, sending down piles of boulders from all sides.

The squad quickly jumped to a nearby boulder and began to traverse their way up the canyon wall, jumping from boulder to boulder as they fell. Unfortunately, the wall was high and the rocks were falling too quickly for the team to make it out before the entire canyon filled in. Lee, however, was far too stubborn to give u that easily. Using his taijutsu, Lee grabbed his teammates and released a ton of energy, supercharging his movements just enough to hasten their pace. Without a second to spare, the squad made it out of the ravine. However, their troubles were far from over.

Near the rim of the ravine, Zetsu stood waiting for them with an amused expression on his face. "I don't suppose you would ever make yourselves that easy for me to kill. It's a shame really, if you had things would be far less painful for you."

The four shinobi stood side by side, anticipating Zetsu's next move. "Don't be too hasty," Neiji advised. "We're dealing with a skilled opponent here and we have a number advantage. Don't rush in unless you're SURE you have an opening."

Too late. Lee had gone charging in screaming something about never backing down from a fight, and Hinata had followed him trying to stop him. Neiji sighed. Lee was so reckless, and yet that was what made him a strong fighter. He was bold enough to take advantage of any opportunity he got. Slowly, Neiji proceeded after them, while Ten-Ten stayed back so that she wouldn't be vulnerable when she use her scrolls.

As Lee moved in, Zetsu quickly disappeared into the ground. Confused, Lee looked around to find his target. A few yards away, Zetsu had popped out up to his nose, staring at Lee intently. Lee charged at hit again, and once again came up empty. Zetsu reappeared some distance away, and gave him a cocky look. "If you want to hit me you're going to have to be more creative than that."

Lee charged in once again, but this time as Zetsu disappeared he punched the ground, blasting apart large chunks of the mountainside. Zetsu fell through the air and landed just a few feet away "You can't hide from me anymore!" Lee jeered. "Now that I know how to find you it's impossible for you to escape."

Zetsu looked completely unimpressed. His face was as bored as that of a child in a department store. He almost looked like he was in pain, as if the torture of such a pointless encounter was too much to bear. "I sense that you're not going to give up easily. Very well. I'm not a strong enough fighter to overpower all of you on my own, so fighting would be pointless." He paused, studying his opponents. They were the ones who had been sent to capture him. And he had been instructed to let them. But not quite yet. He looked back at Lee, who looked absolutely furious. He wasn't one take mockery particularly well. "It seems you have missed something important," Zetsu said objectively.

"And what might that be?" Neiji asked suspiciously. The whole group looked around, trying to understand what was going on in. There had to be something they missed, but there wasn't anything they could see that was out of the ordinary. Anything except…

In the next instant, there was a shrill scream followed by a loud explosion. Over near the edge of the ravine, Ten-Ten lay on the ground, blood pouring from her body. Shock filled the eyes of the other three shinobi. Hinata turned around and began to run towards Ten-Ten, but she didn't get far before Lee stopped her. "No, you can't!" She looked at him confused before he explained. "There's bound to be more paper bombs around here! We can't risk it, or we might get hurt too."

Zetsu gave them the same straight face as before. There was no sorrow on his face, but he didn't appear sinister either. He just was. It was then that they finally understood what kind of "man" Zetsu was. "You're correct, there are several more paper bombs around here." He looked over at Ten-Ten. "And they're about to go off."

With that several more paper bombs went off, and the group was horrified to see that they were practically in the same place as before. Ten-Ten screamed in pain as the severity of injuries increased with each explosion. Zetsu still stood there all the while, completely unresponsive to Ten-Ten's pain.

"Seek me out in this same place in two hours from now. I'll give you the answers you want. In the meantime, I'll give you time to lick your wounds." And with that he disappeared into the ground and vanished.

All three of the shinobi ran over to Ten-Ten, too filled with grief to care whether there were more paper bombs or not anymore. As they approached her, they were mortified to see that Ten-Ten's wounds had become too extensive for her to have even the remotest chance of survival. Barely conscious, she smiled at the group. If this was her last moment she was glad she was spending it with her closest friends. She turned to Lee. He had always meant the most to her. Sure, his gung-ho attitude got too be overbearing at times, but he was always so full of energy. Being around him was never boring, and she wished she could have so much more time with him. She remembered everything, especially one thing…

(Several months ago) "Ten-Ten you have to keep up! This is training after all!"

"Lee, we're just going to get some ramen…"

"Yes, but we must do everything as best as we can!" He had that same stupid determination in his eyes. He got fired up about everything, which wasn't always a bad thing.

The two sat down and began to eat their ramen. Everything went normally until a server ran by frantically, spilling Ten-Ten's ramen all over her. She angrily called after the server, but he simply waved her an apology and kept running toward his table. Lee laughed a little, which briefly caused an angry look from her before she joined in laughing with him.

Lee reached up his sleeve and pulled out a handkerchief. "Here, take this." Ten-Ten took the handkerchief gladly and began cleaning herself up. She smiled at him and thanked him before extending her hand to return it. Lee closed her hand. "Keep it. Think of it as a trophy for all of your hard work today!"

Ten-Ten smiled and wiped the last bit of broth from her face…

(Back to present) With the last bit of her energy, Ten-Ten pulled something out from her robe. It was the handkerchief. She handed it over to Lee, and gave him a weak smile. "Take it. Think of it as a trophy for all of your hard work."

Lee hesitantly took it. It smelled terrible, probably having never been cleaned. And yet she still had it. But why? For some reason, it had been important enough to her for Ten-Ten to hold on to it all this time. Lee knew he was going to need it son. Tears were already streaming down his face.

"Thank you for everything you've done for me. All of you." She looked everybody in the eyes, tears soaking all their faces. And they stayed with her until the very end, when her scroll unrolled to her side, completely blank and never to be written on again…

What a fine day! There were no clouds in the sky and the weather was warm with a light breeze blowing through the tropical vegetation. B looked around him. No one was there. Perfect, now he could practice his rhymes without giving anyone a sneak preview. He had begun writing it at the meeting of the Kages in the Land of Iron, and he had a good start so far:

 _Welcome my friends to the land of iron_

 _Out of my mouth these words are firin'_

 _Fought a shark, aand now I'm feelin' so fly_

 _Since I blue that Akatsuki sky high_

 _Now I'm back home and I got an orange…_

B wasn't sure what rhymed with orange though… Oh well he'd figure it out. He couldn't help but think that there was something more important he should be doing though.

"There you are!"

B turned to locate the voice. Nothing. Suddenly, he got on the defensive. Who was looking for him? Perhaps this was an opportunity to showcase some moves! He checked his book to make sure he picked the right theme. After all, picking the wrong theme was a sure fire way to lose.

The voice came again, closer this time. B was disappointed, however, when he saw Naruto running towards him. "What in the world are you doing? We have to get going after the others, they could be in really danger!"

B looked at him through his sunglasses. His long blond hair blue in the wind as he intensely stared down Naruto. The look made Naruto extremely uncomfortable. He nodded and wrote something down in his book (a book which to this day no one other than B has ever seen), and then turned back toward Naruto. "Let's get this shoe on the road then yo! The fans can't be kept waiting!"

In that moment, a strange series of events happened. For the entire day, Naruto, Guy, and Kisame had been pounding away at the barrier around the island, trying to find a way through it. Nothing seemed to work. To make matters worse, they had been unable to free any oranges from the nearby trees, which they had been depending on for food (by this point they had completely lost any chance of getting back to B's hideout, even he didn't know how to find his way back). After realizing his fans needed him, B had jumped up in a burst of energy and gone barrelling through the jungle. Somehow, he came back with a raft roped together with some jungle vines, loaded with dozens of oranges for food. He then cast some strange jutsu before entering his eight-tails form and head butting the barrier, sending shards of energy down to the ground. As quickly as it happened, he returned to his normal form and stood there looking at their confused faces with interests, as if that had been nothing out of the ordinary.

They all pushed the raft toward the shore and prepared it to leave. Naruto and B jumped on board, and just as Kisame was about to push off, he looked back to find Guy standing on the beach. "Well, are you coming or not muffin top?"

Guy dismissed the insult and looked fired up with determination. "I've been getting a weird feeling…" he began. He looked at the group one by one, and then looked back at the ground and nodded to himself. "We don't have enough manpower to win this war right now. I need to go recruit some help. And I think I know where to find some." He smiled and gave his signature thumbs up. "I'll be fine, you guys go on ahead."

Kisame made no real argument, despite obvious objections on the faces of his companions. He pushed off, and the raft was in the water before Naruto or B could stop him. Naruto looked back at Guy with concern. He was the last companion he had from the Leaf. Now he would be traveling with two relative strangers. One of which had previously been his enemy.

Guy waved at them. "I'll see you on the battlefield! Make sure you save some Akatsuki for me so I can bring them to justice." He then posed with some rose in his mouth that seemed to appear out of thin air as there were no roses on the island. Same old Guy. He waved back at him as he disappeared on the horizon.

And so it was that Naruto travelled the rest of the way toward the battlements with Kisame and B. The majority of the journey consisted of yet another dance off between the two, which they forced Naruto to judge. Naruto refused to pick a winner for fear of being thrown overboard.

Many days later they arrived. B had been tracking Sasuke. Naruto knew that if he showed his face in front of the Shinobi Forces he would be sent back, which was not an option. No, he needed to find Sasuke and settle this once and for all.

That had been the plan anyway, but things rarely go according to plan. Once again, Naruto found his path blocked. And this time, his obstacle was going to be far more difficult to overcome.

"How do you like my new vessel?"

Naruto's face first filled with disbelief, then gave way to pure rage.

"Orochimaru!"

…


End file.
